We are back! Count marine iguanas from Fernandina – expect to find lots!
Research
About Galapagos Marine Iguanas
Amblyrhynchus cristatus (Bell, 1825)
IUCN Conservation status: vulnerable
Population trend: unknown
Last assessment: 30 April 2004
Distribution: Galapagos Islands; endemic
Subspecies: 11
The marine iguana is a charismatic and endemic species of the Galápagos Islands that is threatened with extinction an occurs in an area of occupancy estimated less than 500 km2. They are the world's only sea-going lizards and inhabit in the rocky coasts and intertidal zones. Their average generation length is five years for females and 12 years for males. Only big adult males dive offshore for feeding, while the rest feed in the intertidal zone. When back to land, they usually expel salt from glands near their noses. They are gentle herbivores, eating exclusively algae. They have strong claws to hold onto the rocks in heavy currents and specially flattened tails for swimming.
Marine Iguanas have amazing adaptations like absorbing their own bone matter to survive hard times, and they inspired the creation of Godzilla. However, marine iguanas face a complex combination of threats due to human activities. These threats include predation by introduced animals like cats, rats, and dogs; marine pollution from oil spills and other sources and climate change. Also, El Nino event affects this species every 4 to 7 years. This phenomenon usually causes population crashes in many of the colonies around the archipelago, mostly affecting bigger individuals, which starve due to limitations of available food. This is a natural event; however, scientists expect El Nino to become more severe in time because of climate change. The species consists of 11 subspecies, each of which is unique and important for the survival of the species as a whole. Since the marine iguana is endemic, it is not found anywhere else on earth (not even in zoos!). If it is lost from the Galápagos Islands, then it is lost forever.
Conservation authorities want to help, but the problem is that marine iguana colonies are very hard to reach, and so we have never been able to collect good estimates of how many marine iguanas are left and where exactly they can be found. Without this information, effectively conserving them is very difficult (if not impossible!), and we might be losing important populations or even whole subspecies without realizing it.
About the project
By using drones to survey the marine iguana populations, we can collect high quality images from which iguanas can be counted at a later stage. This means we survey much faster and don’t need to physically visit all the colonies. And because we can send the drones from boats, we can do this work with minimal disturbance to the delicate wildlife of the islands.
Through this work, we collect a huge number of images, and it would take our small team a long time to do all the counting. This is why we are asking for your help through our project on Zooniverse. By joining in, you are making an incredibly valuable contribution to preserving the unique wildlife of the Galapagos Islands. We are confident that our Zooniverse project will give us reliable estimates of marine iguana population sizes, but to prove it we will compare these counts with those from ground-based surveys; this will ensure that our work is scientifically rigorous. In addition, you can help us collect data on other species and interesting finds on the islands, and these results will be shared with other conservationists and scientists so that many endangered species can be helped.
Project Phases
We have already completed phase 3 (image below) in the field on December 2021. The images you will currently see for classifying are from phase 3 (Genovesa, Pinta and Marchena islands), the northern islands, where iguanas are darker than previous phases. We hope to finish surveying the rest of the Islands by the end of this year so that we will soon have a complete record of the size and location of all key marine iguana populations. This information will be a huge step forward in marine iguana conservation and will really help us to protect these amazing animals from extinction in a rapidly changing world.
Our main aims are to:
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Develop a safe and non-invasive surveying technique alongside a volunteer-based method for quick counting.
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Publish the first reliable estimates of the size and location of highly endangered subspecies.
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Create the first species survival plan for the marine iguana to guide their effective protection.
Stay in touch!
During this project, we undertake expeditions to some of the most amazing parts of the Galápagos Islands. We share photos and insights from this work, as well as updates about the project, on our social media feeds - so please join us there too!
Twitter & Facebook: (at)iguanasabove
Instagram: (at)iguanasfromabove
Partners
Our many thanks to these organizations that have helped to make this project a reality:
- The University of Leipzig, Germany
- The International Iguana Foundation (IIF)
- The Galapagos Conservation Trust (GCT)
- Swiss Association of friends of the Galapagos Islands
- The Galapagos Science Centre (GSC)
- Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador (USFQ)
Data collected under the permits number PC-75-20, PC-71-21 and PC-90-22, provided by the Galapagos National Park authorities.
If you would like to know more about the project, please visit our website Iguanas from Above and get involved!