harvard legacy darwin

7/31/2019 Harvard Legacy Darwin

1/72david rockefeller center for latin american studies, Harvard university

The Sky Abve,

The Earth BelwExploring the Universe

ReVistaReVistaharvard review of Latin america spring 20


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Editors LEttEr

Cover photograph b A. Pasten,A. Gome and NOAO/AURA/NSF

The Moon, panet Venus, the brightstar Spica and panet Jupiter areseen

(in descending order) over CerroTooo Inter-American Observator in

Chie in September 2005.

drclas: Merlee S. Grdle, Director Kathy Eckrad,Associate Directoreditorial staff: Je Carly Erlck, Editor in-Chief Ata Safra, Copy EditorAele Berer, Cltlde Dedecker, Publications Interns2CoMMuniqu/www.2cmme.cm , Design P & R Pblcats, Printer1730 Cambrdge Street Cambrdge, MA 02138 Telephone:(617) 495-5428 Facsimile:(617) 496-2802http://www.drclas.harvard.ed/pblcats/revstasubscriptions and reader forum: [email protected] issue of ReVista is made possible tHrougH tHe generous support of banco santander

Cpyrght 2009 by the Presdet ad Fellws f Harvard Cllege. iSSn 15411443

ReVistaharvard review of Latin america Volume VIII, Number 3

Published by the David Rockefeller Center for L atin American Studies

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r v 3

We had gone a few mies upriver and now were standing on the riverbank,

and in front of us, on the other side, the forest was rising ike a wa. We

ooked in sience and then Schutes said, as if speaking to himsef, I knowever tree, ever singe tree one can see from here.

Anthropoogist Gerardo Reiche-Domatoff of his 1952 encounter with

Richard Evans Schutes, Harvard Coege cass of 1938*

T THE HEART OF SCIENTIFIC ExPlORATION AND DISCOVERy IS ANabiit to see deep into the unknown. Whether through ateescope or across a river, the scientific gae transformsthese depths into shapes and patterns that shed both mean-

ing and ight. When Schutes, one of the greatest botanica epor-ers and ethnobotanists ever to have ived, sas I know evertree, it is not of ownership or possession that he speaks, but of

his abiit to see so much more than the non-botanica mortaswho stand beside him.

I first eperienced this widening gae when, as a Harvardundergraduate, I spent a ear working as a research assistant atthe Smithsonian Tropica Research Institute in Panama. At first awas green. On with stud, with time, did the forest come intofocus. On then did I see the feather, gre-green branches ofXyo, the unequa petioes that signaed Crs, the ribbedtrunks ofQrrb. Not surprising, the abiit to distinguishthese endess forms most beautifu, to quote from the fina sen-tence in T Or of Scs, was ike a drug, bringing withit the desire to caim, with knowedge and name, more territor.And et the more m ees became accustomed to the green, themore visibe became a that I had et to see.

The Sky Abve, The Earth BelwThe Art of Good Seeing

An intr oduct ion by n . M i ch E L E hoLbrook

*SCHUlTES WAS lATER PROFESSOR OF BOTANy AT HARVARD. QUOTED IN One RiveR, eXplORaTiOnS anddiSCOveRieS in The amazOn Rain FOReST, By WADE DAVIS (SIMON & SCHUSTER, 1996)

A


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s p r i n g 2 0 0 9 P R E V I O U S P A G E : C O U R T E S y O F D O N A l D P F I S T E RA B O V E , F R O M a R T F O R m S i n n a T u R e , D O V E R P U B l I C A T I O N S N y 1 9 7 4

The sky above , The earTh below

Previous page, View of Punta Arenas, Chie; above, various species of frogs, incuding tree frogs (from Ernst Haecke's art Fors ntr);right, Southern Astrophsica Research Teescope (SOAR) and Gemini South teescopes on Cerro Pachn as seen from Cerro Tooo in June 2006.


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r v 5P H O T O G R A P H B y M . U R z A z U I G A / G E M I N I O B S E R V A T O R y

I suspect that the oung Chares Darwin had a simiar epe-rience when, in 1832, he arrived in Brai. Athough he aterdescribed his eariest foras in fair genera terms: Deight itsef,however, is a weak term to epress the feeings of a naturaistwho, for the first time, has wandered b himsef in a Braiian for-est, his notes and journas are fied with data, numbers, detais a of which speak to his increasing abiit to see and caimthe word around him. For the oung Darwin, it was a wordrepete with capbaras and musica frogs, icebergs and Indians,vocanoes and red snow, fcatchers and finches. But for a hisenormous powers of observation, the heavens both astronomi-ca and metaphorica seem to fa outside of Darwins ream.Indeed the ack of interest in astronomica phenomena is strikingin Darwins voy of t B.

The iron of this is that Darwins theor of the mutabiit ofspecies was seen b man as treading eact on the heavens

through its dispacement of humans from the centrait conferredb specia creation. Moreover, his theor undermined the prevai-ing metaphsica ideaism in which truth ies not in the da-to-dadetais and variation, but in some purer, unchanging ream. Writ-ing on the 100th anniversar of the pubication ofT Or,Ernst Mar, Professor of Bioog at Harvard from 1953 to 1975,states that The utimate concusions of the popuation thinker andof the tpoogist are precise the opposite. For the tpoogist,the tpe (os) is rea and the variation an iusion, whie forthe popuationist, the tpe (average) is an abstraction and onthe variation is rea. No two was of ooking at nature coud bemore different.

The practice of science is deep connected to how one seesthe natura word. Thus, when astronomer Robert Kirshner (p. 55)describes northern Chie as a pace of good seeing, I thinkof this as referring to more than the carit of the air and theabsence of artificia ight. Good seeing is aso a state of mind.Good seeing invoves a deight in the appearance of new thingsand the carit that comes from stepping outside of ones dairoutine. Therein ies the vaue of eporation for the scientist,whether it be traveing b sai around the word or b pane toChie. For Darwin, the Gapagos Isands proved to be a paceof good seeing, athough even this was a near-miss. Darwinwrites that despite the Vice-Governor decaring that the tortoisesdiffered from the different isands, and that he coud with cer-taint te from which isand an one was brought, I did not forsome time pa sufficient attention to this statement, and I hadaread partia minged together the coections from two of

the isands.As a oung, not-et scientist in Panama, I found that the tropi-ca rainforest was m pace of good seeing. It was there that Iearned to see and to inquire. T Sky abo, t ert Bowce-ebrates good seeing b bringing together artices of and inspiredb scientific eporation. The theme that unites them is earninghow both the journe and the pace, whether arge or sma, bringthe word increasing into focus, and how this sharpening gaegenerates a widening sense of wonder.

N. Mchl Holbrooks t Crs Br profssor of Forstry t

hrrs drtt of Orsc & eotory Booy.

inTroducT ion


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e often forget that the most creative years of charlesDarws lfe were passed Sth Amerca. Fr three years the early 1830s, Darw traveled extesvely urgay,

Argeta ad Chle, ad made mprtat shrter vsts tthe Galpags islads ad castal Brazl. The shp that brght hmt the ctet was HMS Beagle, captaed by Rbert FtzRy,ad cmmssed by the Brtsh Admralty t srvey the Sth

Amerca castle fr peaceable aval prpses. Thse years aflathave becme part f hstry.

Yet Darws vyage was mstly lad. Wherever t was c-

veet FtzRy arraged t leave Darw ashre s that he cldprse hs scetfc bservats. The tw me wld redezvsseveral weeks later ad mve wards t ather area. Ths methdf travelg allwed Darw t make sx majr expedts Sth

Amerca ad ccas eve t ret a small hse as a base fr hsatral hstry explrats. By the tme the shp strck t t thePacfc t cte ts vyage ard the wrld, Darw had cmet derstad a great deal abt the gelgy ad atral hstry fths erms ladmass.

The Vyages fCharles DarwTravels in South Americaby jAnEt brownE

W

Charles Darwin made six major expeditions in South America,

and in doing so, changed the way human beings think about their

world. In this section, historians, educators and scientists examine

Darwins legacy on the 200th anniversary of his birth.


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r v 7P A I N T I N G B y J O H N C H A N C E l l O R , G O R D O N C H A N C E l l O R

the Legacy of

charLes darwin

t v cl d, . 6

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t el, . 16


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s p r i n g 2 0 0 9 P H O T O G R A P H B y J A N E T B R O W N E


Darws vyage the Beagles, f crse, fams fr trghs md twards evltary thery. Fr s, t s als a stry fllf symblc resace. o that vyage he bega a tellectal

jrey, a est, f y wll, at the same tme as he assembled thewde varety f frmat abt the atral wrld that wld helpprvde a aswer. Darw hmself apprecated the lastg mpactf the vyage hs sbseet wrk. The vyage peed the drt exceptal sghts ad pprttesthe mpressve ladscapesf Sth Amerca, the fecdty f trpcal Brazl, the brllace fthe stars ver the Ades, dramatc ecters wth ther cltresad ther ways f lfe, hazards travels ff the beate track, adctless mmets whe hs magat was pwerflly strred.

o hs retr, hs Beaglesccesses eabled hm t j the wrldf atral hstry experts ad spred the evltary vews laterexpressed the 1859 On the Origin of Speciesby Means of NaturalSelection. The vyage made hm what he evetally became. Lgafterwards he declared hs Autobiography, The vyage f theBeaglehas bee by far the mst mprtat evet my lfe ad hasdetermed my whle career.

All these edeavrs ad mre ca be fd the bk thatDarw pblshed 1839. orgally ssed der the ttleJournalof Researches, t s w kw mre sally as Voyage of the Beagle.Based the extesve dares that he kept drg the fve years atsea, ad drawg the help f prfessal atralsts after hs

retr, ths bk f travels has charmed readers ever sce. Herewe ca fllw hs legthy lad expedts ad what he called hsgallps acrss the pampas; hs remarkable ecters wth dg-es peples, ad the exctemet he felt at recgzg that hecld make ew ad valable ctrbts t scece. The bkals tells s a great deal abt the way that atral hstry gt dedrg the 19th cetry, frm the mmet that a rck r fssl,a gaa r a beetle, was pcked p by Darw ad pt t hscllectg bag, t ts arrval a wde Admralty bx r barrel atCambrdge uversty, where hs fred ad frmer prfessr JhSteves Heslw was strg materal a sed lectre rm,ready t be classfed ad dstrbted t Brtsh experts. At the same

tme, a extesve seres f letters Darw wrte t lder scetfcclleages shw hm wrkg extremely hard lvg specmes,always readg, wrtg, catalgg, ad sg hs mcrscpe tmake prelmary dssects. He als made carefl feld tes thatwere teded t remd hm abt key characterstcs f the lvgrgasms r mprtat gelgcal featres.

Darw was fact learg hw t prcess frmat. Jst lkes, bt wtht the beeft f cmpter data bases, he eeded trecrd hs frmat a retrevable frm. He atcpated a lfe-tme f frther stdy f the fascatg materal he brght hme.These tes ad letters are a trly extrardary recrd f a ygmas persal develpmet. Ad letters t hs ssters at hme

Previous page: Painting b Gordon Chanceor of HMS Bin the Gapagos from eoto, T Frst For Bo Yrs, edited b MichaeRuse and Joseph Travis, foreword b E. O. Wison (Beknap Press/Harvard Universit Press, 2009); above: Beage Channe ooking westwards.


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r v 9P H O T O G R A P H B y J A N E T B R O W N E

The l egacy of charles darwin

Shrewsbry, he descrbed hs deep emtal egagemet wththe lads ad peple he ectered. iexhastble gd hmrad eergy sg t frm every e f these pageshere s a ygma wh lves what he s dg, wh s havg f, wh s fll ftellectal vgra attractve cmbat f altes that hascaptvated geerats f readers.

Lkg beyd the persal, Darws acct f hs tme Sth Amerca als has mch t tell s abt the rle that travelheld a rapdly chagg pltcal wrld. Eve wtht CharlesDarw at ts ceter, the Beaglevyage prvdes a sgfcat acctf the advetres ad dagers f a vyage carred t at a key pt pltcal hstry. The Brtsh Admraltys desre t chart the Sth

Amerca cast was t eable frmed decss t be made aval ad cmmercal perats alg the stretch frm Baha (wSalvadr) Brazl t Baha Blaca Argeta ad t the rela-tvely explred castle f Terra del Feg, ad t eable Brtat establsh a strger fthld these areas, s recetly releasedfrm ther cmmtmet t trade ly wth Spa ad Prtgal. Lkethe ther develped ats f the wrld, Brta had cmmercalexpas md. Exercses sch as these were t always peace-fl. As far as the Beaglewas ccered, FtzRy was a gvermetrepresetatve egaged ffcal bsess.

Bt that was t ecessarly hw ther ats mght see t.The Beaglewas vlved several e-clal cdets, cld-

g mltary act Mtevde ad beg caght a avalblckade ff Bes Ares. Whe Darw rde t t the pam-pas ard Bes Ares he arrved the mddle f Geeral JaMael de Rsas fercest gerlla campags. Rsas had scceeded ccetratg all pblc athrty hs w hads drg thatperd, ad had assmed the pst f a pplar savr ad dcta-tr. Rsas trps were at that tme reletlessly htg dw adextermatg the idas. Darw had t bta a passprt frmRsas ad travel wth a mber f gachs, wh kew the terra, rder t secre hs safety. He descrbes several ccass whehe ad hs travellg party had t talk ther way t f trble. Thepassprt was grated t El natralsta D Carls, whch was

wdely derstd t mea a ma wh kws everythg. Darwtld sme amsg stres abt the way ths spred great respectfrm peple wh prbably dd t kw what t meat. natralhstry vestgats ad castal srveys cld evertheless be seeby thers as pltczed, eve dagersly atalstc, prsts. Tesre hs mes safety, Capta FtzRy ssted that e shldtravel shre ale Darw clded.

nevertheless, Darw made ew freds abrad. The getry the large tws f Sth Amerca prsed actvtes apprpratet ther scal stadg. Darw stayed a mber f very greatestancias, fte carryg a letter f trdct frm sme cvc dg-tary. May ctes had lbrares, theatres, ad pera hses. There

Observing a fossi outcrop near Montevideo,Urugua.


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were lcal ewspapers at every prt, bt what s perhaps t tes well kw s that FtzRy ad hs crew receved reglar parcelsf Eglsh ewspapers ad jrals, alg wth persal lettersset wards by the Brtsh Admralty. Althgh Darw atrallycmplaed abt beg t f tch, the realty was that he adFtzRy were remarkably well frmed abt hme actvtes.

Darw cllected atral hstry specmes wdely ad care-

flly. Several ther Erpea atralsts had cvered sme f thesame terrtry befrehad, cldg the taleted Frech atral-st Alcde dorbgy, cllectg fr the Pars Msem f natralHstry drg the 1830s. Darw chse t ccetrate theless well kw rgasms. i Sth Amerca he cllected cm-plete stes f sects, small vertebrates, brds, spders, crals,mllsks, mammals, ad fssls whe he cld get hld f them,havg scrples abt byg specmes f he had the ppr-tty. He kew he wld ever be able t vst aga ad that

he shld t mss ay chace t gather as mch frmat aspssble. May members f the Beagles crew were als terested atral hstry ad were able t make small, smetmes sg-fcat, cllects f amals ad plats. After the vyage, thsexpectedly became mprtat. i March 1837, a few mthsafter the Beagleretred hme, t became apparet that Darwhad t sffcetly recrded the gegraphc lcat f brd spec-

mes frm the Galpags islads. He eeded the recrds madeby ther members f the crew, cldg thse f the srgeBejam Bye ad Capta FtzRy. These recrds helped hmppt the lcats fr hs specmesthe vtal frmatthat allwed Darw t see that each frm f fch was restrctedt a dvdal slad.

Drg Darws tesely actve days shre, he als prsedhs fascat wth gelgy, fstered s recetly at Cambrdge u-versty ad a shrt feld excrs Wales wth hs prfessr

Adam Sedgwck. it was Sth Amerca that he frst bega tbeleve that he mght be able t d smethg wrthwhle atralhstry ad where hs zest fr gelgy started t lead hm twardssme f the majr theretcal achevemets f the vyage.

The rle f Charles Lyell ad hs Principles of Geology thsethsastc cmmtmet t gelgy Darws early wrk s per-haps w s well kw that there s very lttle t add t the varsaccts gve by hstras. Darw read Lyells fams bk ass as t was pblshed, ad was delghted by the grad theret-cal scheme he fd there. Lyells thery f the gradal elevatf lad t f the sea, fr stace, cld be sed by Darw texpla may f the thgs he saw. The thck allval depst fthe pampas was cseetly terpreted by hm as a elevatedestary, ad Darw thght that the fssl mammala bes hefd there mst have bee swept t the sea by tertary rvers,ly t be cvered wth sedmet ad evetally rased abve the

srface. Rdg Cape Hr, he thght the slads lked lke arw f sbmerged mtas. He was partclarly gratfed t fdthat the hgh dble rages f the west cast seemed t have beeplfted, step by step, frm a state smlar t that w exhbtedby Terra del Feg. Crss-ctry traverses ad castal srveys Chle left dbt Darws md that the elevat f the

Ades had take place exactly as Lyell had srmsed. As he later

declared, Darw was here seeg the rg f ladscapes as f hehad the eyes f Lyell.

Ths specal vs was als plaly t the fre drg Darwsvst t the Galpags archpelag Ecadr. The Beaglearrved the archpelag September 1835, stayg fr fve weeks. Darwvsted fr f the slads. Hs terest the archpelag was tesebecase t prmsed a ew kd f gelgcal experece. He hpedt see actve vlcaes ( ths he was dsappted) ad evdecef recet vlcac actvty. Ctless lava rcks f vars ages

ad mers vlcac ces cvced hmthat the slads had ly recetly, gelg-cal terms, emerged frm the sea bed. Dar-w als relshed the chace t vestgate

the amal ad plat lfe f the archpelag.islar pplats were fascatg bjectsat ay tme, ad the Galpags islads werekw t pssess a rch varety f edemcspeces. Here aga t wld be pssble t

see hw amals ad plats clzed ew lads, hw bare rck wasclthed ad clzed wth lvg begs. He ejyed the trtses,cllected early all the lad brd, ad stded the tw speces fgaa very clsely, eve dssectg a mare gaa t cfrm hssspc that the amals were etrely vegetara ad tk thermeals the sea.

The ther tpc that shld fally be meted s Darws

dscss f the Fegas. The Beaglecarred three dvdalsfrm Terra del Feg wh had bee Chrstazed ad gve aelemetary edcat Brta, ad were w beg retred tther rgal lad rder t establsh a Aglca mssarystat. The three bard fascated Darw ad he rectedhs ave amazemet that after s few years Eglsh cmpaythey were w almst ather speces f ma frm ther lteralrelatves. Darw felt the dges habtats f Terra del Fegwere prmtves exstg the edge f savagery, ad the cmparsbetwee these peples ad ther Aglczed relatves bard theshp strck hm hard. Ths ecter wth prmtve hmas factdestablzed hs deas abt the fxty f speces jst as mch as theGalpags speces dd. Bth Darw ad FtzRy were saddeed

by the evetal cllapse f the mss. of all f Darws varedexpereces, ths example f the temprary atre f cvlzat adthe ctrast f hma habts ad lfestyles mved hm the mst. icld t have beleved, he wrte, hw wde was the dfferece,betwee savage ad cvlzed ma. it s greater tha betwee a wldad dmestcated amal, as mch as ma there s a greaterpwer f mprvemet.

Janet Browneis Aramont Professor in the History of Science,Harvard University. She is the author of a two-volume biographyof Darwin, Vyagg(1995) andThe Pwer f Place (2002).In January she visited Tierra del Fuego for the first time.

i Sth Amerca, Darw frst bega t beleve that

he mght be able t d smethg atral hstryad fd that hs zest fr gelgy started t lead hmtwards sme f hs majr theretcal achevemets.


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r v 1 1P H O T O G R A P H B y J O N A T H A N l O S O S

uch has been said about the life of charles darwin the ccas f the 200th aversary f hs brth ad150th aversary f pblcat f hs magm ps, Onthe Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. A pt

that has t receved mch attet, hwever, s the sgfcacef Darws years Lat Amerca, whch helped shape hs vewsabt the dversty f the atral wrld ad hw t came t be.

Wtht est, the mst sgfcat evet shapg Dar-ws thkg was hs fve-year vyage the Brtsh ryal aval

shp, the H.M.S. Beagle. A prmary prpse f the expedt was tsrvey the cast f Sth Amerca. As a reslt, the shp spet a largeprt f ts tme ad ear that ctet, allwg Darw tdsembark ad sped csderable perds f tme explrg (adavdg the seasckess that plaged hm thrght the trp).The blgcal ad gelgcal bservats that he made drgths tme were crcal sclptg hs dea that lvg frms hadt remaed statc thrgh tme, bt rather had chaged, evlved.Fr example, he dscvered a ew speces f rhea, a flghtless brdsmlar t, bt slghtly smaller tha, a strch, ad marveled that

there shld be tw speces f rhea ccrrg dfferet parts fthe ctet, smlar, bt tceably dfferet.

i addt, hs paletlgcal explrats cvered fssls fspeces dfferet frm thse crretly fd the ctet, yetclearly related t them. These bservats made a strg mpres-s Darw, as he rected the Origin: Whe bardH.M.S. Beagle, as atralst, i was mch strck wth certa facts the dstrbt f the habtats f Sth Amerca, ad thegelgcal relats f the preset t the past habtats f that

ctet. These facts seemed t me t thrw sme lght therg f specesthat mystery f mysteres.Ad, as s well kw, Darws fve weeks the Galpags

islads, a vlcac archpelag 600 mles de west f Ecadr,ffered rch materal fr hs dscveres. As the Beagleprgressedthrgh the slads, Darw ted that pplats f speces df-fered slghtly frm e slad t the ext. The mckgbrds df-fered plmage patter ad bll sze, the trtses shell shape.

Aga, why shld ths be? All f Darws bservats sggestedthe same pssblty: pplats ad speces acrss tme ad spaceare cected by descet; speces are t mmtable, bt, rather,chage thrgh tme, wth the reslt that related speces dfferet

Darw, Lzards, ad EvltThe Latin American Connectionby jonAthAn Losos

M

A trunk-crown anoe from Jamaica


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places r tmes wll be smlar, bt t detcal.

Prbably the mst fams sbject f Darws terest are theepyms fches f the Galpags, a grp f 15 speces thathave dversfed t may eclgcal ches, cldg seed-eaters,sect catchers, frt ad flwer bd specalsts, ad eve a tl-serthat emplys twgs t prbe crevces fr tasty grbs. Paradxcally,Darw faled t see the sgfcace f these brds at frst, ms-detfyg them as members f dfferet brd famles. it was lywhe the Beagleretred t Eglad 1836 ad Darw set hsspecmes t the famed rthlgst Jh Gld that he learedthat all f the brds were members f a sgle, extrardarly dversefamly. At ths pt, Darw recgzed ther sgfcace, tg hs best-sellg travelge : Seeg ths gradat ad dversty

f strctre e small, tmately related grp f brds, emght really facy that frm a rgal pacty f brds thsarchpelag, e speces has bee take ad mdfed fr dffereteds (Voyage of the Beagle, p. 380). These bservats set thestage fr Darw t develp hs radcal thery. Thrgh careflbservat, aalyss, ad pastakg data accmlat, he slwly(slwly!) hed hs deas, fally pblshg them hs masterpecever tw decades later.

The stat llstrated by Darws fches s w termedadaptve radat, the pheme whch a sgle acestralspeces dversfes, prdcg descedats adapted t a wde varetyf eclgcal ches. May blgsts csder adaptve radats tbe respsble fr a large part f the dversty lfe we see ard

s. What cases e type f plat r amal t radate ad tather ctes t be a est f tese scetfc vestga-t. oe factr that appears mprtat s eclgcal pprtty whe a speces fds tself a settg wth ample resrces adfew ther speces, adaptve radat fte reslts.

Sch eclgcal pprtty ca arse fr may reass, btperhaps the mst cmm s clzat f a dstat slad. Mayslads are frmed by vlcac erpts that create a ew ladmasswhere e prevsly exsted. Ths s tre fr the Galpags, aswell as the Hawaa islads ad may thers. The reslt s thatthe early arrvals t these slads have a pe playg feld, ftefree f cmpettrs ad predatrs. As ecsystems develp, resrces

becme avalable, ad the early clsts ca dversfy ways tpssble speces-packed malads. Ths s exactly what hap-peed wth Darws fches, ad t trs t that smlar phem-ea have ccrred ther archpelags ard the wrld.

My w research, ad that f may stdets ad clleages, hasbee fcsed elsewhere Lat Amerca, Cetral Amerca adthe slads f the Carbbea. Aye wh has vsted the Carb-

bea ad maaged t travel lad frm the beach has prbablytced a small lzard wth a dd appedage ts thrat sprtsa brghtly clred flap f sk, whch t flashes as a frm f lzardcmmcat. These lzards are members f the ges Anolis,cmmly called ales, ad they belg t e f the mstdverse grps f vertebrates (back-bed amals), wth early400 recgzed speces.

Ales have adaptvely radated acrss the slads f the GreaterAtlles. What s mst remarkable abt these lzards s that theyhave t radated ce, bt fr tmes depedetly, Cba,Hspala, Pert Rc, ad Jamaca. o each f these slads,dversfcat has ccrred, prdcg a ste f speces, eachadapted t ts w part f the evrmet. What s partclarly

amazg s that the same set f habtat specalsts has evlved de-pedetly each slad. Ths, each slad has a speces that spe-calzed t se arrw srfaces sch as twgs. These lzards have veryshrt legs, a elgated bdy, ad they creep slwly alg arrwbraches, ctg ther gray-clr camflage t avd detec-t by bth predatr ad prey. Smlarly, each slad has a rbst,lg-legged speces that lves lw tree trks ad dashes cklyt the grd t captre prey ad fd ts mates; ad a sledergree lzard wth large tepads that gve t the stckg ablty tclmb ver slck leafy srfaces hgh the capy. Labratry stdeshave cfrmed that each type f habtat specalst s mdfed tfct best the evrmet t ccpes: twg ales have the

best aglty t avgate ther arrw ad rreglar srfaces wthtfallg ff, lg-legged trk speces have the greatest sprtgad jmpg abltes, ad the capy speces have the best clg-g capabltes. i ther wrds, each type s well adapted t theevrmet t ses.

Ad, t mst be emphaszed, these types have evlved repeatedly(ad depedetly) each slad. DnA seecg cfrmsthat twg specalsts dfferet slads are t each thers clsestrelatves; rather, each twg specalst s mre clsely related t thertypes f specalsts ts w slad, ad the same s tre fr thether specalst types. Adaptve radat has ccrred depe-detly each slad, prdcg, fr the mst part, the same setf habtat specalsts.

Cvergecethe evlt f smlar bdy featres specesadaptg t the same evrmethas lg bee take as evdecef adaptat drve by atral select. Hwever, cvergecef etre cmmtes s a mch less cmm pheme, ethat s prbably best dcmeted Greater Atllea ales. Whyale evlt has prdced the same tcme each slad st clear. Mst lkely, the evrmets the dfferet slads arevery smlar, s that the same best ways fr ales t make a lvgrecr frm e slad t the ext.

Bt the stry des t ed there. Althgh mst scetfcresearch these lzards has bee cdcted Carbbea slads,there are eve mre speces f ales malad Cetral ad

Darwins Finches: (1) Geospia Magnirostris, (2) Geospia Fortis, (3)Geospia Parvua, (4) Certhidea Oivacea

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rther Sth Amerca tha the Carbbea slads (apprx-mately 220 vs. 150, wth mre beg dscvered every year, prmarly the malad). The dscrepacy research effrts has t d wthabdace; whereas ales are abdat the slads, they ca bete hard t fd the ctet (e f the crses f stdyg

slad ales s that wrkg aywhere else, ay ther type frgasm, jst seems lke t mch trble).oe mght well ask: des the same set f habtat specalsts that

ccrs the Greater Atlles als ccr the malad? A fewmalad speces d, deed, cfrm t the slad specalst types.Mst malad ales, hwever, clearly are t at all lke the sladspeces: they dffer bdy prprts, habtat se, r behavr(ad smetmes all three). Fr example, the tw mst cmm spe-ces fd at the orgazat fr Trpcal Stdes (a csrtmt whch Harvard belgs) La Selva feld stat Csta Rca areales that se the leaf ltter ad arrw saplgs ear the grd.i bth eclgy ad behavr, these speces are t lke ay f theGreater Atllea habtat specalsts.

Why has evlt the malad take a dfferet rte?At ths pt the aswer s clear, bt the mst lkely explaa-t vlves dffereces levels f predat. o the malad,a hge varety f predatrs ccrst ly may types f brdsad sakes, bt als mkeys, pg-lke peccares, cats ad thercarvrs mammals, larger lzards ad may mre. By ctrast,the predatr faa the slads s mch mre lmted. Ths,whle slad lzards are prbably mst ccered wth cmpetgwth members f ther w speces fr fd ad mates, the maprrty fr malad speces may well be avdg beg eate. ither wrds, eve f they sed exactly the same habtat (e.g., thetree capy), tw specese the slads, the ther the

maladmght have t adapt dfferetly becase f the ctrast-g demads psed by ther evrmetal settgs. The greaterabdace ad lger lfespa f slad speces wld seem tspprt ths dea, bt mre wrk s eeded.

A secd est s whether replcated adaptve radats ccr

the malad, as they d the slads. As yet we dt haveegh frmat the blgy f the malad speces thatccr dfferet places. i addt, r DnA seece data aret yet sffcet t reslve the evltary relatshps f thesespeces. Ale wrk Cetral ad Sth Amerca s jst gettgstarted my labratry, as well as ther labs, s we hpe t beable t aswer these ests befre t lg.

i have fte wdered what wld have happeed f the Beaglescharge had bee t srvey the Carbbea slads, rather tha Sth

Amerca. Darw was a astte bserver ad atralst; he srelywld have ted the ales, ad prbably wld have pcked p ther smlarty frm e slad t the ext. Perhaps, fact, the les-ss they teach mght have bee s clear that Darw wldt have

eeded ather 20-pls years t wrte hs grad sythess! Ad thelzards wld have had a catcher, mre marketable ameDarwslzards, srely. Alas, the Beagleddt chart that crse, bt alesare stll allwg s t lear mch abt the evltary prcessad t test the deas Darw lad t 150 years ag.

Jonathan B. Lososis Monique and Philip Lehner Professor forthe Study of Latin America in the Department of Organismic andEvolutionary Biology, and Curator in Herpetology at the Museumof Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. He is the author ofLzards a Evltary Tree: Eclgy ad Adaptve Rada-t f Ales (University of California Press, May 2009).

Cockwise, from top eft: a twig anoe from Cuba, trunk ground anoes from Jamaica and Hispanioa, the former dispaing its dewap;a trunk-crown anoe from Hispanioa.

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uring world war ii, bell telephone laboratorieswrked the prblem f secre vce cmmcats frthe uted States Army. i 1943, they lached the SiG-

SALY system, als kw as Prject X. SiGSALY (a fakeacrym) eabled thsads f secret telephe calls betwee W-st Chrchll, Frakl Rsevelt, Geeral Dglas MacArthrad ther mltary leaders. Tday, the ecrypt system s haledas a startg pt fr dgtal cmmcat, the frst sccessfldemstrat f plse cde mdlated speech. Wth PCM, pat-ters f electrcal plses r mbers descrbe the ampltdes fsamples frm a speech wave. istead f carryg speech tself (ra aalgs electrcal wave), telephe wres ad rad wrelesstrasmt ly the parameters f the speech sgal.

A cetral cmpet f the SiGSALY system was the vcder,r Voce-CoDER, a devce best kw fr geeratg rbtcvces electrc msc. Bell egeer Hmer Ddley rgally

desged the vcder the 1920s as a tl fr speech cmpres-st redce the badwdth, ad hece the expese, f telephetrasmss. The vcder aalyzed r separated telephe speecht freecy bads, sampled ad atzed each bad, ad theremade the speech at the recever. i rdary telephy, Ddleyexplaed t the readers fBell Laboratories Record 1936, wemve a sd wave electrcally frm e pt t ather by drecttrasmss bt the sytheszg prcess, ly the specfcatsfr recstrctg the sd wave are drectly trasmtted.

Ddley based the vcders samplg mechasm the therythat ccrete ad atfable gestres lay beeath speech. Hspblcats fte referred t lp-readg, artfcal laryges, ad

speakg atmata as evdece fr the vablty f speech cmpres-s. Each f these felds had already demstrated that speech cldbe dvded t a sd stream ad a message, mprted t the

breath by the mvemets f the lps, tge, teeth ad ther vcalrgas. These speech cdes, r ther mercal descrpts, mghtbe trasmtted wth great effcecy ver a telephe le.

Ddley ackwledged a debt t e f hs ctemprares frmEglad, Sr Rchard Arthr Srtees Paget. Baret ad barrster,br Smersetshre 1869, Paget was e f the last getlemescetsts t have sbstatal flece. i chldhd ad adles-cece he met all the ffcal bechmarks fr a prmsg speechresearcherpssessg perfect ptch; perfrmg e ma dets(by whstlg ad sgg, r whstlg ad hmmg, at the sametme); ad teachg hs black pdle, Pmpey, t tter a few wrds.

Hs lfes wrk was gve ver t debkg veerable tsf ralty. i a lectre t the oxfrd uversty Athrplgcal

Scety 1934, Paget explaed, Speech s sally descrbed asa system f sgfcat sds by whch we cmmcate deasbt a very lttle reflect wll shw that ths s a mstakeit s thegestres that we make wth r tge, lps, etc., whch carry themeag f speech. The sds are ly cseeces by whch we(sbcscsly) recgze the gestres. The rle f sd, Pagetbeleved, was t cvey emt, as the matg calls f brds, thesgs f crckets, ad the tes f hma vces. Speech gestres, the ther had, cveyed frmat.

Paget marshaled a wde rage f evdece t spprt ths ges-tre thery. Fr e thg, he kew that may deaf peple wereable t cmmcate thrgh lp-readg. Fr ather, he bserved

Darw ad Dgtal CdeFrom the Origin of Species to the Origin of Speechesby MArA M i L L s

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s p r i n g 2 0 0 9 i n T R O d u C T i O n T O T h e S T u d Y O F S i g n l a n g u a g e ,S M I T H S O N I A N I N S T I T U T I O N B U R E A U O F E T H N O l O G y

Dotted ines indicatemovements to pace thehand and arm in positionto commence the sign andnot forming part of it

Indicates commencement

of movement in represent-ing sign, or part of sign

Represents the terminationof movements

Dashes indicate thecourse of hand empoedb the sign

Used in connection withdashes, shows the courseof the atter when not oth-erwise cear inteigibe{ To cut, with an a } { A ie }

>

x

{ To ride }



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The l egacy of charles darwin

frsthad the acts f the vcal rgas. At the 1932 iteratalPhetc Cferece, he peered dw phetca Gerge oscarRssells thrat wth a pharygeal perscpe. i a sbseetlectre t the Physlgcal Scety at uversty Cllege Ld,he recalled the extreme actvty f hs laryx ad srrdgpartsdrg rmal speech. There was a dfferet atttde ateach chage f vwelthere was a dfferet atttde frmgthe s-called vced ad vced csatseve whe allthesecsats were beg whspered.

Paget als arged frm evlt: artclat mst haveemerged frm a prmtve sg lagage. i The Descent of Man,Charles Darw had ssted that cmplex lagage dstgshedthe hma specesandwas sbject t the laws f evltarythery. other amals, f crse, cmmcated thrgh sd,bt hmas had the metal facltes fr cectg deftesds wth defte deas. Dfferet hma lagages, lke smay behavrs, had a cmm bass blgy. i was cessatlystrck whlst lvg wth the Fegas bard the Beagle, Darwreflected, wth the may lttle trats f character, shewg hw sm-lar ther mds were t rs. Certa facal expresss, emtalvcalzats, ad gestres seemed eve t be versal.

Darw descrbed gestre as a lgstadg accmpamet tvcalzat, ad gestre-lagage as aalgs t speech. i ca-t dbt that lagage wes ts rg t the mtat ad md-fcat, aded by sgs ad gestres, f vars atral sds, thevces f ther amals, ad mas w stctve cresAs bearg the sbject f mtat, the strg tedecy r earestalles, the mkeys, mcrcephals dts, ad the barbarsraces f makd, t mtate whatever they hear deserves tce.Sme gestres, sch as shrggg, were almst certaly ate.

Yet Darw cted the thery f Edward Brett Tylr, athrpl-gst f acet Mexc, whch held that mst gestral sgs wererelated t atre thrgh stctal mmcry, ad the cdesed,exaggerated, r therwse altered ver tme. i Researches into the

Early History of Mankind and the Development of Civilization, Tylrarged, The ida patmme ad the gestre-lagage f thedeaf-ad-dmb are bt dfferet dalects f the same lagage fatre. Speech had evlvedsmehwas a mprvemet pths rgal lagage f ma.

i The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, Darwtrdced the ccept f servceable asscated habts, referrgt behavrs that becme habtal der certa cdts, btthe ca be trggered ew settgs by md r metal state. ia related pheme, Darw arged, There are ther actswhch are cmmly perfrmed der certa crcmstaces, de-pedetly f habt, ad whch seem t be de t mtat r sme

srt f sympathy. Ths a pers cttg aythg wth a par fscssrs may be see t mve ther jaws smltaesly wth theblades f the scssrs. Chldre learg t wrte fte twst abtther tges as ther fgers mve, rdcls fash. Based ths last mdel, Paget ssted p a mre cetral, casal rle frgestre the evlt f lagage: early hmas cmmcatedva patmme, cscsly makg the same gestres wth

ther mths; evetally, they dedcated ther hads flly t labrad spke rally stead. i hs lectres ths tpc, he fteexclamed, Darw has t ly gve s the rg f speces,bt als the rg f speeches!

Paget blt a rage f artfcal talkers t test hs gestre-theryf speech. Hs mmalst Cherphe, fr stace, cssted f avbratg reed held wth the resatr f hs w clasped hads,fed by a arstream. Wth three fgers smlatg the tge,thmb ad frefger as the lps, the Cherphe was able t createmst Eglsh sds. it spke the seteces Hll Ld, are ythere? ad oh, Llah, i lve y t rad adeces Egladad Amerca, demstratg that had ad mth mght perfrmthe same gestres. T detfy the fdametal vcal pstre fr

each vwel, Paget blt ther mdels frm clay ad plastce. ia 1922 artcle, The org f SpeechA Hypthess, he frthertherzed that f hads ad clay cld talk, cld t electrcalcrcts be desged wth the apprprate patters f resace tsythesze speech?

Whle the gestral rgs f speech are w estableadthe prmtveess f sg lagage has lst ts valdtytelepheegeers f the early tweteth cetry vested heavly Pag-ets thery. Harvey Fletcher, wh drected the speech ad hear-g research at Bell Labratres whle Ddley was assemblg thevcder, peed hs textbkSpeech and Hearingwth a dscssf the gestral mechasm f speakg:

it s very prbable that sch sgs, gestres, ad expresss f the face

were sed befre the evlt f the spke lagage had prgressed

very far. Accrdg t sme phllgsts, the vcal sds f very

prmtve peple were exclamatry ad sg-lke ad sed maly t

express emt. Sd mmckg atre came t desgate certa

thgs cected wth the thg mtated. As mas pwer f aalyss

develped, the sds gradally develped t spke wrds havg

defte meags. Accrdg t Sr Rchard Paget, hma speech

bega by the perfrmace f seeces f smple patmmc ges-

tres f the tge, lps, etc., cmparable wth the atral gestres

(f hads, etc.) whch are stll made by deaf mtes, ad that these

gestres were made adble by breathg r grtg.

Sgs were at ce symblc ad wderflly ccrete; mthgestres cld be descrbed, atfed, ad cded. Speech cldbe cmpressed by separatg t these gestres frm adble sd.Placed at the fdat f ral cmmcat, gestre was at ceversal ad prmtve. Fr the egeer, ths sggested that cm-mcat was heretly ameable t traslat betwee medaad t was perfectble, pe t a mder ad effcet re-tlg.

Mara Millsis a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at the University ofPennsylvania. She earned a Masters degree in Biology from Harvardin 2006, followed by her Ph.D. in History of Science in 2008.

(fig. 9) Casped hands resonator 1024; (fig. 10) Mode #7, resonator1024 in pasticine; (fig. 11) Mode #8, singe resonator with arn;(fig. 12) Mode #9, u (who) 608/362

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uring the 19th century, philosophers, doctors,btasts, ad zlgsts Mexc egaged lvely debatever Darws deas abt evlt f the speces. TheCathlc Chrch herarchy reacted sharply t these deas ad

accsed Darwsm ad all ther ccepts f evlt as ctraryt Chrsta dctre ad dagers t yth. The chrchmefrmly ppsed the teachg f evlt Mexca classrms.

Jst Serra, the llstrs Mexca lawmaker ad pltca whdecsvely fleced edcat the era, had brght Darwsdeas t pblc attet fr the frst tme 1875, whe he pb-lshed a artcle El esprtsm y el Lce Hdalg (Sprtsmad the Hdalg Lycem) the ewspaper El Federalista.

Serra vked the separat f chrch ad state, a prcple

frmly establshed Mexca law, t head ff the Cathlc Chrchherarchy ts attempt t mpede the teachg f evlt. Hearged that sceces have t be taght eve f they ctradct cm-m sese r delgcal ad thelgcal psts.

A fdametal tcme f ths debate, whch tk place scetfc scetes ad the press alke, was that t pblczedevltary deas thrght may sectrs f scety, ad thesedeas were gradally crprated t classrms at vars levelsf edcat.

i 1902, Alfs L. Herrera created a prfessrshp GeeralBlgy wth a evltary fcs, the nrmal Schl fr Pr-fessrs, a teachers cllege. Tw years later, he pblshed a crse

textbk, Nociones de Biologa(nts f Blgy). Ths bk,whch was a mleste prgressve thkg, was sed fr years several Mexca sttts.

nevertheless, t s mprtat t stress that evlt was merelymeted as e amg ther tpcs elemetary schl cr-rcla rather tha fgrg as the bass f a systematc apprach tthe stdy f lvg begs. Ths stat lasted eve t the 1970s.Presdet Ls Echeverra (1970-1976) carred t a edcatalrefrm that mplemeted the teachg fcs adpted the utedStates ad Erpe ad made mprvemets t the textbks sed the 1960s; hwever, ths edcatal refrm dd t adpt aevltary fcs teachg atral sceces fr grades 1-6.

Twety years later, 1993, ather crrclar refrm f the

prmary schl establshed that atral scece sbjects frm thefrst t sxth grade be taght frm a evltary perspectve, adthat evlt tself be a sxth-grade sbject (ths last had alreadybee rered the 1970s). Ths reslted a fdametal tras-frmat f the crrclm ad textbks, as prevs materalshad dscssed kwledge abt the rg f speces a prelydescrptve maer. Ths chage csttted a great challege frthe desg ad elabrat f ew thrd-t-sxth-grade Mexcatextbks atral sceces.

i the sxth-grade textbk fr atral scece frm the 1970s,evlt was already clded, bt the dscss was lmted tthe stdy f fssls as evdece f lfe the past, wth llstrats

that shwed the gradal evlt f hrses as well as the dffer-eces betwee ctemprary hmas ad ther acestrs. i thsbk the referece t Darw s mmal, althgh sme adapta-ts f amals ad plats are meted, ad atral selects dscssed as e f the mst mprtat prcesses regards tthe evlt f the speces; fally, there s a passg referece tgelgcal eras. Altgether, these themes take p 18 t f a ttalf 242 pages.

i ctrast, the textbk develped fr the 1993 crrclmfr the same grade (pblshed 1999 ad stll sed Mexcaprmary schls) dscsses evlt extesvely. it cldes thergs f the earth, the trasfrmat f ecsystems (thrgh-t tme ad de t ctetal drft), fssls, the extct f

speces ad gelgcal eras. it talks extesvely abt Darw, hsVoyage of the Beaglead hw ths trp helped hm develp thedea f evlt. The bk devtes ample space t the cceptsf atral select ad adaptat. it ctrasts Darwsm wththe deas f Jea-Baptste Lamarck (1744-1829), wh belevedthat evlt ccrred de t the se ad dsse f the rgasad the hertace f acred characters. Fally, the textbkccldes wth a chapter hma evlt. These sbjects takep 60 t f 248 pages, three tmes as mch as the prevsbk. The dfferece betwee the tw textbks s t ly thember f pages dedcated t evlt r the frm f presetgthe sbject, bt als the type f actvtes ad tellectal chal-

leges demaded f the stdets. Fr example, whle the prevsbk shws a cple f mages descrbg the adaptat f a sal,a graffe ad a sect, the crret text appraches adaptat adatral select wth a prpsal fr a expermet t be perfrmed teams ad wth the elabrat f a cceptal map.

Dverse themes wth a evltary fcs are trdced beg-g the thrd grade. Fr example, there s a dscss f platscapacty t rsh themselves ad hw e thg relates t ather,s that the xyge that we breathe tday cmes frm phtsythe-ss f plats that exsted thsads f years ag. Lkewse, thethrd grade, stdets stdy the dmestcat f cr frm ts wldacestrs t lear abt the mprtace f mtat, breedg, adcservat f the speces. Thrght the develpmet f themes

regardg the stdy f plats ad amals, there are mltple refer-eces t the mprtace f the adaptats that are a reslt f theevlt f the speces, brgg p ests ad assgg actv-tes t stmlate frmed reflect by the stdets the sbject.i frth grade, the stdy f evlt s refrced whe, amgmay examples, stdets lear abt the rle f hma begs chagg ecsystems. The text explas hw lfe earth appearedmlls f years ag: frm the dversfcat f lvg frms, themst acet hma begs appeared, whse remas have beefd the Afrca ctet, datg back abt tw ad a halfmll years. Frm Afrca, these hma begs spread thrghtthe earth. Stdets lear abt the brth f the frst scetes ad the

Teachg EvltChallenges for Mexican Primary Schoolsby AnA bArAhonA And E L i sA bon i L LA

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vet f agrcltre, ad wth t the rasg ad dmestcatf plats ad amals. Ths explaat appears als the ctextf the mprtace f cservat f ecsystems.

i the same maer, the ffth grade the sbject f cells, e-cell ad mlt-celled rgasms s trdced. Stdets lear thatthe frst lvg creatres that appeared the earth were very smple

rgasms, cmpsed f ly e cell, ad mre cmplex frms flfe develped frm these. Ffth-graders als lear abt the frstgrad dvs betwee e-celled rgasms wth a cles ade-celled rgasms wtht a cles (bactera). The cclss that these frst rgasms gave rse t all the lvg frms thatwe kw tday. Frm the 1990s , the stdy f cells ceased tbe prely descrptve, redced t the parts that make p a cell adthe dfferece betwee amal ad vegetable cells, ad bega t betaght wth a evltary fcs.

The 1993 crrclm ad textbks were a mprtat leapfrward ad deed a advacemet ver ther edcatal sys-tems that stll est the vale f cldg Darwa thery prmary schl. Hwever, t everythg s etrely pstve. i

partclar, we eed t stregthe the trag f teachers capablef teachg wth a evltary, rather tha descrptve, fcs. itwast tl 1997 that sch a crrclm was apprved fr teach-ers clleges; fr years later, 2001, the frst grp f elemetaryschl teachers gradated wth ths trag. Hwever, there has bee evalat whether ths trag trly s eablg teachers t teachatral sceces wth a evltary fcs r, eve mre mprtat,f the stdets maage t develp a evltary mdset.

it s mprtat t stress that free textbks have bee the pr-cpal meas f brgg prmary edcat refrm t the Mexcaedcatal system as a whle. The versal character f ths mea-sre, whch prvdes bks t chldre bth pblc ad prvate

schls, makes t very fletal. Sme 2.7 mll cpes f eachttle are pblshed, althgh the exact mber vares frm gradet grade. Ths meas that a bk that has bee pblshed fr thelast 14 years, sch as the thrd-grade atral sceces textbk, hasbee sed by 37.8 mll Mexca chldre, evalet t 35% fthe Mexca pplat tday.

Federal edcatal athrtes recetly aced ather ewrefrm f prmary schl edcat, w a plt prgram phase.i r p, the case f atral sceces, the refrm mstt ly matar eve better, mprve pthe stadardsf alty reached the crret textbks, bt als cfrt ceaga the bstacles ectered the prevs refrm, especallythat f preparg teachers capable f develpg a evltarymdset ther stdets, s that 200 years after the brth f CharlesDarw, hs deaswhch revltzed the way f derstadgad explag the develpmet f the Earth wll fally be fllydssemated ad derstd.

Ana Barahonais a professor at UNAM; she specializes in the his-

tory and philosophy of biology, evolution and science teaching; she isco-author of Mexican Natural Science textbooks. She is President-elect of the International Society for the History, Philosophy andSocial Studies of Biology. Contact: [email protected]

Elisa Bonilla is a mathematician with a Masters in Educationfrom Cambridge University; she has been a researcher and professorat the high school, undergraduate and graduate levels; she held ahigh post in the SEP (1993-2007) and participated in the 1993educational reform, coordinating the edition of textbooks still inuse. She is now the director of the Fundacin SM in Mexico.Contact: [email protected]

s p r i n g 2 0 0 9

r v 1 7P H O T O G R A P H B y S U z I E F I T z H U G H , W W W . S U S I E F I T z H U G H . C O M

A Nationa Counci of Education Promotion (CONAFE) student in rura Chiapas, this teenager studies when not working in thefieds. Free tetbooks in both pubic and private schoos have been the principa means to carr out education reform in Meico.


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R O G R I O A S S I S / p O R O R O C a M A G A z I N EW W W . R E V I S T A P O R O R O C A . C O M . B R s p r i n g 2 0 0 9

r v 1 9

There s grader ths vew f lfe, wth

ts several pwers, havg bee rgally

breathed t a few frms r t e; ad

that, whlst ths plaet has ge cyclg

accrdg t the fxed law f gravty, frm s

smple a begg edless frms mst bea-

tfl ad mst wderfl have bee, ad are

beg evlved.

harles darwin wrote these words

e hdred ad ffty years ag. Onthe Origin of Speciesexplded pthe scetfc ad academc wrld

1859, ad ts rthdx cclss,t whch Darw was at frst wllgly,bt the exrably draw, challeged themst etreched scetfc dgma f hsday. Charles Darw spet ly fve weeks Galpags, bt hs tme these slatedslads led t hs thery f a dyamc ev-

ltary prcess. The yg Darw cldt have evsed what hs trp ardthe wrld wld brg eve he had lttledea f what he was gatherg, vewg adchrclg. Hs kee, bservat prbgleft readers f hs wrk captvated by aall t bref trdct t these elegatslads ad ther ld-fashed atedl-

va amals; r rather habtats f smether plaet.Mre tha a cetry later, scety stll

strggles wth the cclss s carefllyreached by Darw. The ccept that evl-t s a dyamc frce settles thse whhld a less cmplex vew f the atralwrld. if the rgs f r atral wrldelde sme f s, perhaps t s ths lack fclarty that leads s, as a wrld cmm-ty, t rema at dds wth wld places.

We act ad p them wth dscmfrt

ad sspc, as thgh the atral wrldwere a frter t be yked t sbmss.Cat atre, ts fll ad predctablebeaty, prvde the very ctext whchmakd begs t derstad what t s tbe hma? Hw shld we cect wththe atral wrld, wth the myrad speceswe ecter lad ad r ceas ad

waterways? What ca wld places lke Gal-pags cte t tell s abt the wrld whch we lve?

There s stll mystery the atralwrld, thgs whch are yet t be learedad dscvered. The cea, the great bleheart f r wrld, s as lttle derstdw as t was Charles Darws day.Galpags tday remas a vbrat lab-ratry fr learg hw the wrld wrks.new scetsts j thse wh have beewrkg fr decades t cver the secret

C

Edless Frms Mst BeatflSaving Galpagos in the 21st Centuryby johAnnAh bArry A photoEssAy by rogEr io Ass i s

the gaLapagos

gl 21 c, . 19

a w L gl d?, . 22

c f glil, . 24

m d pl gl, . 26

The Galpagos Islands off the Ecuadoran coast inspired Charles

Darwin's theory of evolution more than a hundred years ago.

Today, these islands face multiple challenges as they seek to

combine conservation with sustainable development and tourism.


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s p r i n g 2 0 0 9P H O T O G R A P H S : R O G R I O A S S I S / p O R O R O C a M A G A z I N E

W W W . R E V I S T A P O R O R O C A . C O M . B R

lfe f fches, the slads der the sea,ad the chrg gelgcal actvty whcheve tday shapes ad expads the arch-pelag. We lear f a ew speces f ladgaa, ew speces f plats, ad ewspeces f crals. There are systems stll tbe cvered ad derstd ad daly

pprttes t be elghteed.Bt whle mch f the archpelag

remas as t was, ad sme cases s betterpreserved tha whe Darw experecedt, ths atral treasre faces rapd, pss-bly rreversble chage. The resdet pp-lat the archpelag grws ad wthths grwth cmes pressre delcate adscarce resrces. We brg the wrld t theseremte slads, ad leave behd a fr-tate legacy f waste, csmpt, adexpltat. Yet we kw the path twardsprtect ad sstaable, harms lv-

g. We are challeged t take t.The 21st cetry wll gve s reas fr

hpe. There s grwg awareess amgthse lvg Galpags abt theseextrardary slads ad that a balacemst be strck betwee ma ad atre.Despte csderable ecmc ad scalchalleges the malad, the Eca-dra gvermet has demstrated acreased cmmtmet t gettg t rght Galpags. A teratal cmmtyf scetsts ad schlars cte t seek

aswers t the kw. We are grateflt the vstrs t Galpags wh becmets mst ardet advcates ad defeders.

Ad we are gratefl that makd st llhas the capacty t be dazzled. CharlesDarw spke f the beaty ad ftecmplextybetwee all rgac begs.The Galpags islads rema e, ty,bt ftely cmplex system whchblgcal mysteres stll abd.

Johannah Barryis the President of theGalapagos Conservancy. She can be reached

at .

Rogrio Asis, eecutive editor of the Braiianmagaine pororoc, made these stunningphotos of birds and other widife in theGapagos Isands. One of the principachaenges faced b the isands is how tomaintain their biodiversit and strike abaance between man and nature.


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s p r i n g 2 0 0 9

r v 2 1

The galapa g os


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22 r e V a

s p r i n g 2 0 0 9 P H O T O G R A P H S C O U R T E S y O F C E C I l I A A l V E A R

henever i tell people that iwas br the Galpags isladsf Ecadr, they always say, i ddtkw there were ay peple the

Galpags. i thght ly strage amalslved there. T whch i sally respd thatpeplestrage ad t-sals madether way t the slads ver the years.

The slads were pplated fr ce-tres, althgh they were t kw.There are ral accts f e ica rlerwh made hs way here a raft. The frstwrtte chrcle cmes t s frm theBshp f Paam, whse shp was blw ffcrse 1535. The msplaced clerc ad hsparty laded p water, bt the vlcacterra ad the strage creatres remdedthem f hell, s he sad mass the beachad prmptly left. The slads, als kwas Las Ecatadas r The Echated

isles, later became the refge f prates adbccaeers. i the 18th ad 19th cetres,whalers made the Galpags a way stat tstck p water ad gat trtses whchthey carred as a meat spply.

i 1832, the ewly depedet gv-ermet f Ecadr tk pssess f the

Archpelag ad 1835, a yg Eg-

lshma by the ame f Charles Darwcame callg.Ad the rest s hstryr evlt,

f y prefer.Thrght the early years, Ecadr

tred all srts f clzat schemes. Whethey faled, settlers left behd dmestc a-mals whch became feral ad t ths daythreate the atve speces.

Amg the mre clrfl hma spec-mes the Galpags saga stads the leg-edary tyrat Mael Cbs, wh plated

sgar cae ad ra a sgar mll ad a ral-rad Sa Crstbal islad wth cvctlabr. He was klled drg a prsg. Afew years later nrwega mmgrats tredt start a fsh prcessg plat. it faled frlack f adeate trasprtat. i the1920s, several Erpeas arrved searchgfr a Rbs Crse experece ths

vlcac tpa.i the 1930s came a wma wh calledherself a Baress ad lved wth tw lv-ers Flreaa islad where she tededt pe a htel. She ad her favrte strvashed mysterslybt that s atherstry. Several Germas came thse yearsfleeg the mpedg hrrrs. Prmetamg them were the Wttmers ad the

Agermeyers whse descedats stll lve the slads. Mrs. Margret Wttmer wrtePost Office Floreanaabt her expereces. A

W

Are We Lvg the Galpags t Death?Beyond the Animalsby c Ec i L i A A LVEAr


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s p r i n g 2 0 0 9

r v 2 3

cple f pre-hppes, Asle ad FracsCway, arrved frm Berkeley, Calfra.She wrte a bk abt ther advetres,Las Encantadas.

Bth athrs prase my father, Lt. Cl.Alejadr Alvear, wh was appted JefeTerrtral r Mltary Gverr f the

Archpelag 1939. They call hm elght-eed becase he blt the frst schl Sa Crstbal ad cared abt the settlers.

Whe my father, my mther, Lara Trvde Alvear, ad my lder sster Alexadraarrved 1939, Baerz Mre SaCrstbal islad was a small vllage wthhts f bamb, lmber ad crrgatedr. There were ly 800 peple lvg the whle Archpelag. My parets lved a wde hse facg Shpwreck Bay(wth a frt prch vew f the ste where

Jaary 16, 2001, a ld taker, the Jes-sca ra agrd, spllg bker fel ).Thats where i was br ad where i spetthe frst tw years f my lfe.

Althgh i was ever mre tha a td-dler there, i kw that we spet mst fthe days at the the-prste beach. Sea-ls ad gaas frlcked the earbyrcks. We watched the ble-fted bbesas they dve swarms t catch fsh frther der.

i the smmer f 1996 i retred tGalpags wth a grp f freds. As we

apprached Sa Crstbal a schl f dl-phs rde the bw wave. They are mag-fcet creatres ther atral habtat:pwerfl ad playfl, ejyg a afterrmp the trse waters. or sealsf delght seemed t ecrage them t deve mre elabrate smersalts, t flpver ad the t lk p at s t checkr reacts. i felt they were welcmgme back hme.

The Galpags were declared a atalpark 1959, ad the 1960s trsm

t the slads started t grw ad prdcesgfcat revees fr Ecadr. Thereare w abt 160,000 aal vstrscldg myself ad the lcal ppla-t, maladers search f better jbpprttes, w mbers 30,000 spreadver fve pplated slads. My brthplace s

w a small cty f 4,000, wth a ccreteper, paved streets, cars, ad cemet hses.The hse where i was br was swallwedby the ew Ecadra navy base.

Althgh the Galpags natal Parkad the Darw Fdat are makgeffrts t prtect the fragle evrmetfrm the mpact f the hma speces, t svery hard fr s t c-exst wth edageredspeces. oe fams stry s that f Le-sme Gerge, the last e f the speces ftrtses that habted Pta islad. Gergew lves Sata Crz slad where the

Darw Fdat cares fr hm. Effrtst fd hm a stable mate have faled thsfar, bt there may be sme hpe becaserecetly ather male trtse was fdwth half f the gees f Gerge s wthe search s fr a female evalet ttry ad save Gerges speces.

Sme f the peple wh lve theGalpags are fsherme. it has bee df-fclt fr them t accept gvermetalreglats as t the legth f tme theyca fsh ad amt f crstaceas ad

fsh they ca harvest. i the past they havestaged prsgs t prtest the ed f thelbster seas ad the cstrats the

harvestg f sea ccmbers.Trsts cme here becase they lve

the amals ad the wldess f the severalslads that are stll habted. isladersreset what they perceve as a plcy thatfavrs amals ver peple. They als feelthat the prfts geerated by the trsm

dstry ted t favr well-establshedmalad perated tr cmpaes. Tr-sm s the ecmc lfele fr the sladsbt t has may dwsdes.

The slads were gve Wrld Hertageste stats by unESCo 1978 ad 1985 were declared a Bsphere Reserve.Ths was exteded 2001 t clde the43,500 sare mles f cea srrdgthe slads. i 2007, unESCo jed thegvermet f Ecadr declarg theslads at rsk. Bt despte all these effrtsthe fld f trsm ctes ad wll be

eve greater ths year, whch marks the200th aversary f Darws brthday adthe 150th aversary f the pblcatf hs thery f evlt spred by hsvst t the archpelag. Perhaps the tmehas cme t sersly est whether weare lvg the Galpags t death.

Cecilia Alvear, a native of the Galpa-gos, is an independent journalist. She isa retired NBC Network News producer, a

former president of the National Associa-

tion of Hispanic Journalists and a 1989Nieman Fellow. Cecilia Alvear can bereached at [email protected].

The galapa g os

craving computers

th - h h

1939 h

e f n. 1 aj a.

i w

h 450 k-8

bqz m, s c

i. th h h g h

h h h

. i wh h. i h h h

h h h c c c a. u

h w i w -

, h h i, h h

h h h h

. i h i h wh h h

h w h z hw h h wh h w

w h h g.

left: Photo taken b the author's parents inBaquerio Moreno, San Cristba back in19401941.The oder gir is her sister, Ae-andra; the todder is the author. Above: Ceci-ia with tortoises at the Gaapagos NationaPark tortoise preserve in San Cristba Isand.


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s p r i n g 2 0 0 9 P H O T O G R A P H S : A B O V E , R O G R I O A S S I S / p O R O R O C a M A G A z I N EW W W . R E V I S T A P O R O R O C A . C O M . B R ; R I G H T , C O U R T E S y O F R O O T C A P I T A l

n early 2003, tourism in the gala-

pags islads was bmg, e f thefew brght spts Ecadrs sptter-g ecmy. Yet small tr bat pera-

trs lke Rc Martez de Mal ad Rlf

Wttmer were strgglg t cmpete agastlarger ad better captalzed cmpaes wthdrect lks t cstmers nrth Amer-ca ad Erpe. The dramatc grwth vstrs ad a flx f resdets frm themalad were als strag the sladsstar attract: ther extrardarly rchbt hghly sestve bdversty.

Csdered the brthplace f CharlesDarws thery f evlt, the sladswere declared a atal park 1959 ada uted nats Edcat, Scetfc ad

Cltral orgazat (unESCo) WrldHertage Ste 1978. The Galpagsnatal Park Servce (GnPS) maagesthe slads sg a cmbat f reg-lats ad market-reted appraches.

The slads habtats lve desgatedareas three percet f the Galpagsladmass, wth the remag 97 per-cet prtected frm develpmet. GnPSawards bed permts t a fxed mber flcesed bat peratrs t reglate trsmactvty ad tghtly maages resrce seby resdets.

What was ce a plgrmage desta-t fr scetfc researchers ad Darwethsasts develped ver the last arterf the 20th cetry t a pplar vaca-

t spt fr nrth Amerca ad Erpeatravelers. The slads pplarty traslatedt hgher ccpacy rates fr exstg bedpermts ad a verall grwth vstrsfrm 12,000 1974 t 25,000 1981

t 46,000 1994. As ccpacy ratesreached capacty the early 1990s, GnPSrespded t pressre frm tr peratrsad creased the mber f bed permtsfrm 800 t 1,400 beds per day. Thesechages favred larger bat peratrs assmaller peratrs had already maxmzedbed capacty ther bats, bt larger, bet-ter-captalzed peratrs were able t addmre beds r replace medm-szed batswth larger es.

Facg stff cmpett the market

Cservat FaceCapitalizing the Missing Middleby br iAn M i LdEr

I


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s p r i n g 2 0 0 9

r v 2 5

ad mtg evrmetal pressre,small-bat peratrs Martez de Malad Wttmer wrred abt the ftre fthe bsesses they had tled fr years tbld ad the slads they called hme.oe f ly a few female bat wers the Galpags ad the daghter f a fsher-ma, Martez de Mal was the wer fDaphe Crses ad a prmet leader the lcal cmmty. Wttmer, the s fthe slads earlest settlers, had peered

trsm the slads as far back as the1960s ad later fded Rlf WttmerTrsm Galpags (Wttmer Trsm)wth hs three ss. Fr years, Martezde Mal ad Wttmer had r ther bs-esses as a extes f ther persalvales ad deep rts the Galpagscmmty, hrg lcal resdets as crewmembers ad wrkg t mmze therevrmetal mpact.

i 2000, a ew certfcat kw asSmart Vyager was desged fr tr bat

peratrs the Galpags by the ter-atal gvermetal rgazat(nGo) Rafrest Allace ad the Eca-dra nGo Cservac y Desarrll.obtag ths certfcat wld eablebat peratrs lke Martez de Mal ad

Wttmer t cmmcate ther bsesses

scal ad evrmetal cmmtmetst csmers ad dfferetate them frmther certfed cmpettrs.

T alfy fr Smart Vyager, hwever,Daphe ad Wttmer Trsm wld frsteed t acre ew epmet t redceeergy se ad pllt. uable t facethese vestmets frm ther bsessescash flws r t access credt frm Ecadr-a baks, Martez de Mal ad Wttmerfeared they wld be exclded frm SmartVyager ad the pprttes t mght cre-ate. T large fr mcrface sttts

bt csdered t small ad t rsky bycmmercal baks, bsesses lke DapheCrses ad Wttmer Trsm fd them-selves trapped the mssg mddlewtht access t captal that cld yeldcst savgs, make them mre cmpettve the market, ad geerate crtcal scalad evrmetal dvdeds.

Daphe Crses ad Rlf Wttmerfally btaed certfcat after accessgcredt frm Rt Captal, a prft scalvestmet fd that leds t baked

bsesses the mssg mddle.natre-related trsm the Galpagsislads ffers a mcrcsm t the pprt-tes ad challeges fr leveragg marketfrces t cserve bdversty ad mprvelvelhds thrght the Amercas.

Brian Milderis the Director of Strategy& Innovation at Root Capital. He can becontacted at [email protected]. Thisis an abridged version of a draft chapter ofa forthcoming book on Conservation Capi-tal in the Americas edited by James Levitt,

director of the Program on ConservationInnovation at the Harvard Forest, Har-vard University.

DRCLAS, in conjunction with the LincolnInstitute of Land Policy and the Univer-sidad Austral de Chile (UACh), hosteda hemispheric meeting on conservation

finance in January 2009 in Valdivia,Chile. The meeting was co-organized byLevitt and Antonio Lara, Dean of theUACh Faculty of Forest Science.

summary of smartvoyager sustainabiLitystandards

integrated Waste management:

nr w- ,

w

, q

w

nu :

, , h

strict control of use, supply,

and storage of materials

nc

z

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reduction of negative

environmental impacts

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h wh 4- (70%

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nu - -

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loWering risk of introduction

and dispersal of exotic species

ns

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treatment of Workers

nf w, , hh w

employee training

neh -

planning, monitoring, and

evaluation

nc h

.

The galapa g os

Above: Marine iguanas;Right: Rof Wittmers boat


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s p r i n g 2 0 0 9 P H O T O G R A P H S : R O G R I O A S S I S / p O R O R O C a M A G A z I N EW W W . R E V I S T A P O R O R O C A . C O M . B R

n september 17, 1835, the hms bea-gleswg her achr ad came trest ff Chatham islad the Gal-pags islads. Charles Darw later

rwed ashre ad, as he walked acrss thestark basaltc lava ladscape,

met tw large trtses, each f whch

mst have weghed at least tw hdred

pds; e was eatg a pece f cacts

ad, as i apprached, t stared at me ad

slwly walked away; the ther gave a deep

hss, ad drew ts head. These hge rep-

tles, srrded by black lava, the leaflessscrbs, ad large cact, seemed t my facy

lke sme at atedlva amals.

Sch a thrllg atre mmet sperhaps exceeded ly by Jh Hammdad hs fctal bad f scetsts whethey reeled back befre aBrachiosaurus

Jrassc Park.Wh wldt wat t be wth ether

grp at sch a mmet? As t trs t,y ca apprxmate t almst ay day a

atre crse the Archpelag de Cl.Bt these are hardly the same cdtsthat Darw ectered. The Galpagsislads w cta thsads f peple,resdets as well as vstrs.

Darw ted that there were ...betwee tw ad three hdred, all peple fclr, wh had bee bashed fr pltcalcrmes frm the Repblc f the Eatr Charles islad. o James islad, he meta few Spash salrs set frm Charlesislad t dry fsh ad salt trtse meat.Later, ths mtley grp served as Darws

gde ad tk hm t a altgether pc-trese ad crs salt pd where afew years sce, the salrs belgg t asealg vessel mrdered ther capta; wesaw hs skll lyg the bshes. Except frmet f a Mr. Lars, a Eglshmaad vce-gverr f the cly, therpeple habtats are ted ths chapterfThe Voyage of the Beagle.

i lght f sch lmted ad savrymages, t seemed dd that 1967, i wasvted by the gverr t be the Galpags

frst Peace Crps vlteer (ther Ecadr-as speclated that i was beg exled t thefams peal cly there). nethelesst was advetrs. Whe the avy spplybat drpped my wfe ad me Chathamislad, abt 1,500 peple lved there ad the ther three habtable slads, whspaczed t Sata Crz, Sa Crstbal,Ferada, ad Flreaa. The wldlfe waseverywhere ad was everythg e wreads abt.

We spet three yea rs bld g ewschls, teachg chldre hstry, gegra-

phy, ad Eglsh, ad ths easly avdedthe peal cly, whch was abaded 1959 after rtg mates early escaped.The same year, the Galpags natal Parkwas created, w ecmpassg abt 97%f the archpelags lad, habtablebecase t lacks ptable water.

Lfe was smple, pctated by mthlyspply bats ad twce-aal tr bats,bearg rthlgsts lke Rger TryPeters. The sgle mst dsrptve scalact ccrred 1969, whe the atal

gvermet ffered electrcty t SataCrz, where the natal Park headar-ters ad Charles Darw Research Statare lcated. Pblc wrks t that pt c-ssted f a malfctg water pmp, afew hdred yards f r ppe, ad a dys-fctal maagemetjuntamade p fthe lcal prest, the avy prt capta, adthe sherff/tary pblc (teniente poltico).The cmmty was relctat t prvdelabr fr what they arged wld cklydeterrate t a archelgcal mmetwtht prper mateace ad paymet

f blls. S they persaded thejuntat cedeathrty t a ctze bard fr a e-yeartral perd. nt ly dd the plat geeratelght each ght, bt the prject geerated aprft. Whe the bard preseted ts year-ed reprt, they fllwed t wth a demadt take ver the water prject, ad cklyprchased a ew water pmp ad plastcppe wth ther prfts. Ths act was tfreshadw lcal respses t a mre serscservat crss the late-1990s.

islad travel at that tme was ether

ft r by bat. o e shrt sal t halwd fr the ma strake f a freds ewbat, we stpped at a large flat slad calledBaltra. it was pplated by a few Ecadraar-frce me wh, bred ad srly, weregardg a r-dw, rarely sed arstrp.

We later leared that t was the lgest ar-strp Lat Amerca, as t had served a

Wrld War ii Amerca arbase frm whchamphbs plaes garded the Paama

Caal ad B-29 bmbers refeled e rtet the Maraas ad Japa.By late 1970, plaes laded wth tr-

sts were arrvg at Baltra t trasfer pas-segers t watg tr bats. Ecadraswere ettled t lw-cst ar fares ad as

jbs, r the percept f them, creased,ther mbers the Galpags mltpledt abt 15,000 by the late 1990s. Wth aew fll-servce arprt ad twce-daly jetservce, Baltra shered a trst bm,makg Darws park a blgatry ct-etal attract.

Ctrllg the mbers ad mvemetsf trsts was relatvely easy ths largelycastal ad mare trst spt. Wth cr-dated bat terares, establshed achr-ages, ad desgated paths, a vstr cldstll see mch f the Galpags as Darwsaw t, thgh trsts fte stmbled verfsherme cleag ther catch r sleepg the beach. Frm the trsts perspectve, rrather frm a dealzed vew maged by thelarge tr peratrs, sch cmmercal sghtswere abt as welcme as the mted skp-

O


Mder Day PrblemsA Viewby thEodorE MAcdonALd


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pers skll dsplayed t Darw, as etherthey, r the grwg prt pplats fPert Ayra ad Baerz Mre, werepart f the atral ladscape.

A ladscape lsh wth plats ad amalsbt devd f hma begs accrds mrewth the sesbltes f Jh Mr tha thescece f Charles Darw. Yet that vewhas dmated Galpags islads trsm.Mr, aghast at the damage prdced by

prly ctrlled sheep Calfras Serranevada rage, baed dmestc amalswhe Tlme Meadws became Ysemtenatal Park. The same fate befell the res-det natve Peples f Calfra, wh alswere remved. The resltg prste mageft a strct preservatst mage, whchthe atral wrld s lke a a hstrcalsapsht where e ca arbrsh t theatral, the featres e prefers t tsee, be they peple, dmestcated amals,dstry, r agrcltre. Cservat, byctrast, accepts evrmetal mdfca-

t as evtable, ad seeks a balace.i the Galpags, sch dfferetatswere smply theretcal parts f the casallcal chat tl the md-1990s whe -gg debate ver lbster fshg ad spe-ces preservat was cmpded by arapdly expadg dstry harvestg seaccmbers fr a lcratve Asa market. Thepreservatst respses f the atalgvermet ad the scetfc cmmtybrght slts that the lcal ppla-t regarded as Draca. Vlet strkes,

blcked tr bses, demstrats adglbal press cverage reslted. i respse,the Darw Ceter crclated apcalyptce-mal messages ard the wrld , as tsdrectr held ff prtesters wth a ladedshtg. Fr sme f the mst vcal, themessage was a smple save the sladsfrm the rapacs masses; fr agry th-ers, t was evrmetal eltes verss thepeple. ne f ths dchtmzg ad

mtal demzg helped.Frtately, perspectves ad appracheschaged wth the 1997 arrval f a ewDarw Ceter drectr ad hs wfe,bth f whm had backgrds ter-atal cservat ad pblc plcy.They wrked well wth ad were sp-prted by the Drectr f the Galpagsnatal Park. As a athrplgst wrk-g atral resrce dsptes, i had beevted back t the Galpags. My researchreprt ffered a alteratve terpretatf the dspte ad recmmeded cllabra-

tve lcal maagemet. T s t was smple:everye the slads was prd f theGalpags e evrmet ad wrldfame, ad all sectrs were eally pset byther excls frm partcpat thearchpelags plag ad plces, whchalways emaated frm qt. The partesths readly acheved csess fr thecreat f a mlt-sectral maagemetteam, a brad partcpatry prcess t setthe rles, ad a self-mtrg team frcmplace. Sme lcal pltcas wh

had beefted ecmcally r pltcallywere happy, bt the cmmty was t.it was a rebrth f the ld electrc lght adptable water prjects, ad ts eths, wwrt large, was cservat.

Wth a year, the maagemet team,wrkg clsely wth cgressme, drafted

a Specal Law fr the Cservat adSstaable Develpmet f the Prvcef Galpags, whch, whe prmlgated 1998, exteded the bdares f theMare Reserve t 40 atcal mles ardthe etre archpelag ad created a pr-tected area f ver 130,000 sare klme-ters (ard 50 sare mles). The SpecalLaw als baed atal ad terataldstral fshg (e.g., sea ccmber adlarge vessels), yet allwed lcal artsaalfshg. These ew rles were mplemetedad mtred by a Partcpatry Maage-

met Bard made p f represetatvesf the scetfc cmmty, trsmdstry, ad fsherme. They, tr,were spervsed by a atal yet lcallyrepreseted bdy, the iter-istttalMaagemet Athrty.

Sce the, as wth mst evltary pr-cesses, the ew apprach t cservat addevelpmet the Galpags has ec-tered cmpett, chaged drect, metpltcal ctrverses, sffered ecmccertaty, ad as a reslt adapted slwly

ad mperfectly. it s, as wth ay atralsystem, characterzed mre by a fragle adeasy elbrm tha by ay permaethmestass. The pltcs ad physcal geg-raphy etheless permt ethsastc tr-sts t eter Darws park wth a mmalftprt, prvde e research pprt-tes, ad secre a lvg fr thse wh arew a larger part f ladscape, eve f theyare t everyes sapshts.

Theodore Macdonaldis a Lecturer inSocial Studies, Harvard, and a Fellow

with the University Committee on HumanRights Studies. He was a Peace Corps Vol-unteer in the Galpagos from 1968-1970,and consultant with the Charles DarwinResearch Center from 1996-1999. He likesmost birds, marine mammals, and people,in no particular evolutionary order.

For those who want a longer account,please see: http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~tmacdon/papers/galapagos/Macdon-ald_Galapagos.pdf

The galapa g os

Approaching Cerro Brujo "Wiard Hi" in the Gapagos from the sea.


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s p r i n g 2 0 0 9 E n g r a v i n g a f t E r c o n r a d m a r t E n s f o r t h E n a r r a t i v e s o f t h e b e a g l e ( r o b E r t f i t z r o y & c h a r l E s d a r w i n , 1 8 3 9

n early 1968, while traveling as a peace corps volunteer

to the Galpagos Islands aboard the Ecuadoran navy supply boatB.A.E Calicuchima, I first read Darwins Voyage of the Beagle.The most important chapter was, of course, The Galpagos

Archipelago. After all, his observations on finches and tortoises

clearly illustrated adaptation and the origin of species, thus defining

evolution. But after having read On the Origin of Speciesas a student,the Galpagos narrative did not seem to be a spontaneous travelaccount nor a deductive rendering of the evolutionary ideas. Later I

learned that scholars, as well as the family and admirers of Darwinsclose competitor Alfred Russell Wallace, demonstrated how Dar-wins travel account became more evolutionary with each edition,

serving to cement his claims to originality as well as chronicling hismaturing analysis. So, while Darwins Galpagos story was obviously

dramatic for science, it was not a thriller to me then.By contrast, the earlier chapter titled Tierra del Fuego was alive

with adventure, uncertainty and drama, as well as some startlinglysubjective observations on the regions indigenous inhabitants. Here

Darwin apparently felt no need to justify any emerging theory.The seas of the Antipodes were nothing like the calm, predicable,

mid-latitude waters of the Galpagos, where well-laid courses andcontrolled exploration could be realized. Consider this January

1833 entry:

At noon a great sea broke over us, and filled one of the whale boatsright up which was obliged to be instantly cut away. The poor Beagle

trembled at the shock, and for a few minutes would not obey her

helm. Had another sea followed the first, our fate would have been

decided soon, and for ever. We had now been twenty-four days trying

in vain to go westward

Likewise, the people were like none he had even imagined. On

Christmas day 1835, he writes that the crew went on shore nearWolloston Island where they pulled along side a canoe with sixFuegians [Indians]. These are the most abject and miserable crea-

tures I anywhere beheld. A week earlier, on observing an attempt at

In Dire StraitsCharles Darwin and FuegiansBy theodoRe macdonald

I


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Voyages of

DiscoVery

i D stt, . 28

Tvl d s Bl, 34

fug t t ed t et, . 38

communication, he writes that the Fuegians, apparently mimickingthe crew, were

talking and making gestures with great rapidity. It was without

exception the most curious and interesting spectacle I ever beheld. I

could not have believed how wide was the difference between savages

and civilized men. But even these tall guanaco skin-clad Selknam(Ona) were, he added a different race from the stunted, miserable

wretches [Yamana] farther westward

After reading this thrilling chapter, I dragged a hesitant spouse andtwo friends to Punta Arenas on vacation in 1969. No one was disap-

pointed by the landscape of Patagonia and the Straits of Magellan.And there were wonderful museums filled with huge stuffed rodents,

sea birds, and man-sized ostriches (Rheas), all nearly extinct.But it was the ethnographic photographs by Austrian mis-

sionary Father Martin Gusinde and the single shot, an apparentself-portrait, of Julius Popper hunting Selknam in the 1890s that

plunked these exotic images into a harsh and sudden history. Withinabout seventy years of the Beagles voyage, the Indians of Tierradel FuegoSelknam (Ona) and Huash to the east; Alacaluf andYamana (Yaghan) to the westwere extinct as distinct and viablesocieties. By the late 20th century all but about two of the Fuegians

were dead, most of the others having been killed by Europeans or

perished from introduced illnesses.Charles Darwin, of course, played no role in this. But his obser-

vations, like those of the Beagles captain, Robert FitzRoy, clearlyproject mid- and late 19th century European notions of hierarchicalhuman evolution, and reveal the sentiments easily put into practice

when Europeans came into competition with these others. In anodd irony, Darwins thoughts while aboard the Beaglecapture theshallow anthropological notions and ethnocentric morality of his

times, while his observations on all other natural life illuminate the

le: Jee b -e e b, e e e l; e: p ae e .

This issue ofReVistafocuses on exploring the universe.

In the 19th and early 20th century, many did so literally bysetting off on voyages of discovery. These observant explorers

included Darwin, William James and Roland Thaxter.


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dynamics of natural science, which he would change forever.This shipboard convergence of ideas and historyas the Age of

Exploration settled to one of charting, commerce, and imperialismon the oceans; as the finding of natural science changed forever the

way people see history and, less memorably, as a new anthropologymixed science, evolution, and race with short-sightedness andgreedproduced a travel account easily placed alongside Homers

Odyssey, Marco Polos travel and Captain Cooks journals.

people, islands, and straits: an earlier eVolutionThe Fuegians have long figured in travelers accounts. Both Magel-lan and Drake spotted signal fires (fuego in Spanish) as they trav-

eled here and, rumor has it, thus named the Land of the Fires, orTierra del Fuego. But long-time resident Lucas Bridges suggests

(and we will read shortly) that both this naming tale and storiesabout cannibalism may be simply a part of the wild landscapes

lore. Residents and their inhospitable landscape only occasionallyreceived travelers, who had their hands full simply navigating the

stormy area, but, as they are mentioned by all travelers, its clearthat the Fuegians had been on the island for a long time. Perhaps

a very long presence, as archeologists now suggest.Who, then, are these various peoples, almost as different one

from another as from their observers? How did they get there?

It turns out to be an interesting laboratory with an answer notsuspected by Darwin but nonetheless consistent with his notions

of competition and adaptation applied to other species. Reflectingon his notes, he asked:

Whilst beholding these savages, one asks, whence have they come?

What could have tempted, or what change compelled a tribe of men,

to leave the fine regions of the north to travel down the Cordillera or

backbone of America, to invent and build canoes, which are not used

by the tribes of Chile, Peru, and Brazil, and then to enter one of the

most inhospitable countries within limits of the globe?

Surprisingly unlike the evolutionist that he was who assumescompetition, Darwin here seems to suggest that the western Fue-

gians somehowdecidedto travel there. But archaeology a centurylater illustrates a pattern that looks more toward population pressure

than simple decision, thus foreshadowing the travails that wouldaffect the Fuegians even more dramatically after Darwin left theStraits. As he notes, clear physical differences exist between the

western coasts short, squat shore-dwelling, canoe-using huntersand the notably tall hunters of the eastern plains. The pioneering

archaeology of Junius Bird suggests not only a long human pres-ence for both groups (9,000 BC, and most would now argue, much

earlier). However, associated arrow heads and spear points suggestan economy of plains-dwelling large game hunters, much like the

Selknam and bearing no resemblance to the coastal Yamana. Otherarcheologists, notably Donald Lathrap, argued that all the residents

were, in fact, the same sorts of hunting peoples who populated

much of Patagonia in historical times. And like such people theycompeted, indeed fought, with each other for territory. Archeolo-

gists further argue that some peoples, in this case the ancestors ofYamana and Alacaluf, lost the battles and were pushed, long ago,

onto the inhospitable western shores by those, the ancestors ofthe Selknam and Huash, who then controlled the rich guanacohunting territory to the east. It was onto this now well-established

demonstration of social change and adapta-tion, however, successful, that Darwin and

FitzRoy wandered, unknowingly and withlittle of the objective observational skills that

would carry them through the Galpagos.One can only wonder why Darwin, who

could figure out such patterns for finchesin the Galpagos, missed the similar evolution in Tierra del Fuego.We shall see that it was Darwins times and his society, not his

analytical capacity, that explains the failure.

Fitzroy and his FuegiansThe Beaglewas Robert FitzRoys ship, and he was a powerful aristo-cratic presence as well as a superb sailor. Indeed at times it is hard

to distinguish between his and Darwins observations on people, adistinction complicated by FitzRoys decision that the ships natu-

ralist would be the only one to share meals with him aboard ship,and by extension the captains earlier experiences.

m te e fe

Both Darwin and FitzRoy observed people as well as

fauna and geology. However, their analytical lens were

shaped more by the times than by science.


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r V 3 1E n g r a v i n g : n a r r a t i v E s o f t h E b E a g l E ( r o b E r t f i t z r o y & c h a r l E s d a r w i n , 1 8 3 9 )

In his first charting voyage (1826) to Tierra del Fuego, FitzRoy

worked with the crew of another vessel, the HMSAdventure. Dur-

ing that trip, an exploratory whale boat disappeared. Assuming thatthe Yamana had stolen it, he took chase for several days, picking upand losing several Indian hostages en route. All escaped except for

a woman, whom they called Fuegia Basket, named for the hastilybuilt craft that replaced the stolen whale boat. In like manner, theycaptured a man, whom they named for the place he was sighted,

York Minister. Later they captured a third and, in honor of thewhaleboat, named him Boat Memory. Finally, FitzRoy encountered

a man and a boy in a small boat; he gave the man a pearl but-ton, and the boy jumped into FitzRoys boat ( he was later named

Jemmy Button, after the item that purchased him). Though manysailors brought home such human souvenirs, Fitzroy took his for

philanthropic reasons. Whats more and quite surprising, it appearsthat none of them, except the ever-sullen York Minister, seemed to

mind their involuntary trips to England.Once there, the four lived mainly aboard the Beagle, as FitzRoys

guests, with occasional visits to Queen Adelaide, aristocratic fami-lies, the Church Missionary Society, and other potential support-

ers. FitzRoy, meanwhile, prepared them for a return that would,

he hoped in the best spirit of those times to improve them withEuropean manners, food, dress and, of course, Christianity, all ofwhich they were expected to spread on return to the savagesthree years later. They all, save Boat Memory who died of illness,

were accompanied on their return by the Reverend Richard Mat-thews, who volunteered to help convert and civilize the Yamana

but lasted only a few weeks among them before pleading, nearlyinsane from culture shock, to be taken back aboard. All this could

be simply an interesting tale. However, it reveals attitudes. Thedominant practice of European expansion was to come later in the

century, and revealed the worst spirit of the times.

the second Voyage

In the months before the 90-foot, 10-gun brig HMS Beagles depar-ture from Plymouth Harbor (December 27, 1831), the ships 27-year-old Captain FitzRoy set his priorities.

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