Today the Galapagos Islands, a milestone of sustainability, are faced with the challenges of consumptive demands of a growing tourism sector, an increasing residential population attracted to the Galapagos for jobs in the tourism industry, environmental management institutions and policies of government and non-government organizations, and ecosystems that are highly vulnerable to human activities and decision making. Research at the GSC focused on these linked human-environment interactions takes shape along the following lines of inquiry: Human migration and tourism, public health and disease ecology, agriculture and fisheries, access to care, land use/ land cover dynamics, invasive species eradication, social and ecological vulnerability and resilience, conservation and economic development, environmental health, and nutrition.
Water quality on San Cristobal Island
Antibiotic resistance in the environment
Research Projects
Agriculture, Wildlife, and Land Use in the Galapagos
People: Francisco Laso, Steve Walsh, Javier Arce-Nazario
Departments: Geography
Water, Food, and Health in San Cristóbal: The Healthy Family Study
People: Amanda Thompson, Enrique Terán, Margaret Bentley, Jill Stewart, Jaime Ocampo, Graham Pluck, and Khristopher Nicholas
Departments: Anthropology, Nutrition, Environmental Sciences & Engineering
Food Environments in the Galapagos: Geographic and Behavioral Determinants of Diet and Health
People: Khristopher Nicholas, Margaret Bentley, and Amanda Thompson
Departments: Nutrition, Anthropology
The Dual Burden of Disease in the Galapagos, Ecuador: An Interdisciplinary Study of Food and Water on Isabela Island
People: Donald L Fejfar, Elijah Watson, Kishan Patel, Nick Badhwa, Khristopher Nicholas, Amanda Thompson, Peggy Bentley, and Jill Stewart
Departments: Nutrition, Anthropology, Biostatistics, Environmental Health Sciences
Feasibility of Educational Support Measures for Parenting Skills and Mental Health Symptoms in Mothers of Young Children in the Galapagos
People: Julee Waldrop, Betty Martinez, Alasia Ledford, Amanda Thompson, Hannah Jahnke
Departments: Nursing, Anthropology
Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies: The intergenerational effects of maternal stress in the Galapagos Islands
People: Hannah Jahnke, Amanda Thompson, Peggy Bentley
Departments: Anthropology, Nutrition
Lessons from the Environmental Resistome in Galapagos: A One Health Perspective
People: Alyssa Grube, Jill Stewart
Departments: Environmental Sciences & Engineering
Synthesis of Drivers, Patterns, and Trajectories of LCLUC in Island Ecosystems, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
People: Steve Walsh, Richard Bilsborrow, Laura Brewington, Yang Shao, Hernando Mattei, Francisco Laso, Phil Page, Brian Frizzelle
Departments: Geography
Water Cycling and Critical Zone Processes in the Tropics: The Galapagos as a Natural Laboratory
People: Xiaoming Liu, Diego Riveros-Iregui
Departments: Geological Sciences, Geography
Water Quality Assessments on San Cristobal Island, Ecuador
People: Jill Stewart, Valeria Ochoa-Herrera
Departments: Environmental Sciences & Engineering