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Science Desk with Dr. Tim Motley September 13, 2007 Botanical Collecting Expedition to the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador.
The island group (14 large and 120 total islands) is well known for their endemic giant tortoise, iguana, and finch species that vary from island to island. The plants also vary from island to island in the archipelago.
Dr. Motley has developed a research agreement and collaboration with the Charles Darwin Research Station and the Ecuadorian Government to try to
reduce some of the confusion using DNA sequencing methods. His collaborators include Dr. Alan Tye (Charles Darwin Research Station) and Dr. David Kohn (American Museum of Natural History). In addition to trying to solve the taxonomic name-game, they hope to elucidate the number of times Borreria species have dispersed from the mainland to the islands and the pattern which the plants travel from one island to another. The study also has a conservation component. Botanical historian, Dr. David Kohn, noted that Darwin wrote in his field notes that Borreria was the most common plant species in every habitat in the Galapagos. Of course this is no longer the case, because goats and pigs were brought to the islands and have extensively altered the flora. Most of the research on this trip focused on collecting on Santiago Island. This is because goats and pigs were recently eliminated from the island. During the expedition the population size and range were recorded to see if in future trips the Borreria populations rebound to there previous abundance.
To learn more attend Dr. Motley's lecture on September 27
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Dr. Timothy Motley and Dr. Tatyana Lobova (Old Dominion University) recently returned from a plant collecting trip to the Galapagos Islands. The Galapagos are volcanic islands located on the Equator approximately 620 miles from the coast of Ecuador. A large part of the islands are now preserved as a national park and the large tourist industry is restricted to certain parts of the islands. 
The main reason for the recent trip was to collect a plant called Borreria. Borreria is the group of organisms that Charles Darwin first noticed the variation of species from one island to another. He took these plant specimens back to Joseph Hooker, director of the Kew Royal Botanical Garden, and he described several new species from the Galapagos collections. In the next 150 years subsequent botanists have described more new species from the Galapagos and other botanists have rejected some of these names. Therefore, it is presently difficult to identify and place a name on the Borreria species on the island.
While collecting on Santiago the research team traveled by a small boat called la Pirata (not a luxury tourist vessel) and made landings on the island either by jumping ashore to sharp lava benches or wet landings in dangerous swells. Once on shore the fieldwork consisted of long hikes over hot, barren lava flows. The footing on these old flows is difficult. Hiking boots are quickly damaged and a fall can result in serious wounds. Each research member took home minor scars as souvenirs of the eepedition. If you are interested in learning more about the Galapagos, the National Geographic Channel is airing a new three part series this month on the islands. As a note of interest, the boat they used to represent Darwin’s cabin on the Beagle is the same vessels that conveyed the Borreria Expedition.
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