Message from the Director
The Galapagos, Bioconservation & the Genome
Huntington F. Willard, PhD
There are some names that are so clearly associated with particular scientific discoveries or events that their mere mention brings to mind an indelible image: Watson and Crick next to their model of the double helix in April 1953; Enrico Fermi and the first nuclear reactor under the University of Chicago's football stadium; Neil Armstrong's "one small step" onto the surface of the moon; Mendel and his garden peas. For the field of evolution, the image of one place says it all—the Galápagos Islands, the crucible of modern biology, located off the coast of Ecuador.
"Sequencing and genotyping can be used to recover information about such species' demographic history, clarify relationships among populations, measure inbreeding, and detect gene flow among populations."There is little doubt that the defining characteristic of the Galápagos—its astounding array of diverse, reproductively isolated flora and fauna that led Charles Darwin to his revolutionary theory of natural selection some 170 years ago—is under threat. Over the last three decades the islands' human population has swelled 10-fold to 27,000. More than 350 taxis now run on tiny Santa Cruz Island, home to the Charles Darwin Research Station. Endemic species' habitats are further threatened by invasive species on many of the islands. Invaders new (blackberries) and old (rats, cats, goats and pigs) continue to out-compete native species, despite recent efforts at containment.
Avian and marine fauna, too, are under threat. Since 2000, the Galápagos penguin (yes, a penguin at the equator) has been listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources Red List of Threatened Species (www.redlist.org). The penguin breeds only in the archipelago; its population has declined by 50 percent in three generations. The flightless cormorant is also at risk. Found only on a single island, it too has been on the Red List since 2000. No wonder that the number one priority of science in the Galápagos is bioconservation.
What do the genome sciences have to do with bioconservation? First, genomics can be readily applied to the study of the same evolutionary processes Darwin observed. Just as colleagues here are using genome sequences to study the way species arise and spread (as detailed in this issue), so too can the genome sciences be brought to bear on Galápagos species, their origins and their fates. And tools being used by Greg Wray and others in the Center for Evolutionary Genomics to examine the consequences of genetic variation in humans and other organisms can also be applied to plants and animals native to the archipelago. By understanding the scientific underpinnings of speciation and adaptation, we will likely be in a better position to conserve those species flirting with extinction. In addition, the burgeoning field of community genomics—the sampling of microbial genomes directly from the environment—could have a profound impact on our understanding of the biological forces at work in the archipelago’s ecosystem.
A second role for genomics is even more directly tied to conservation efforts. Any number of species under threat—whether due to habitat loss, competition from invasive species or naturally shrinking population size—might benefit from a genomic "workup". Sequencing and genotyping can be used to recover information about such species' demographic history, clarify relationships among populations, measure inbreeding, and detect gene flow among populations. Such information could be invaluable for managing threatened populations on the islands. For example, genomic typing could be used to identify potentially appropriate mates for selective breeding programs.
The "poster boy" for Galápagos conservation efforts is Lonesome George, the very last of the giant tortoises from the island of Pinta. The giant tortoise population has been decimated by visiting whaling ships since Darwin’s day, and more recently, by introduced predators. Efforts by the Charles Darwin Research Station to breed Lonesome George have thus far been unsuccessful. Sequence analysis to explore the degree of genome diversity among the many phenotypically different tortoises on islands or in zoos around the world (which feature tortoises taken from the Galápagos as much as a hundred years ago) could re-establish a breeding colony to replenish the population.
Of course, genetics and genomics are not the only approach to bioconservation. They will not reduce human encroachment on the islands or otherwise preserve endemic species' habitats; only rational, environmentally sound policies can accomplish that. And natural phenomena—such as the eruption of a Fernandina volcano that threatened the flightless cormorant this summer—will always have their way with species, regardless of human efforts. But genomics in particular can help provide a window into the mechanistic basis of evolution by natural selection and reveal how the startling diversity within the Galápagos came to be and where it might be headed. And, as Darwin himself observed so presciently, such discoveries cannot help but provide insights into the origins and evolution of our own species.
Huntington F. Willard
Director