On the Backs of Tortoises: Conserving Evolution in the Galápagos Islands
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ON THE BACKS OF TORTOISES: CONSERVING EVOLUTION IN THE GALÁPAGOS ISLANDS Elizabeth Ann Hennessy A dissertation submitted to the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Geography. Chapel Hill 2014 Approved by: Wendy Wolford John Pickles Scott Kirsch Lawrence Grossberg Margaret Wiener ©2014 Elizabeth Ann Hennessy ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Elizabeth Ann Hennessy: On the Backs of Tortoises: Conserving Evolution in the Galápagos Islands (Under the direction of Wendy Wolford) The Galápagos Islands are today considered a world-renown “natural laboratory of evolution” and one of the best-preserved ecosystems on earth. Yet even this remote archipelago is not immune from global environmental crises: in 2007, UNESCO put the Galápagos on its list of World Heritage Sites In Danger because of booming tourism development. Most analyses explain this crisis as a Malthusian problem of over-development on fragile islands. However, I argue that adequately understanding current problems in the Galápagos requires a return to the annals of evolutionary science to analyze how that history shaped the islands. This dissertation traces this history on the backs of the islands’ most iconic species, giant tortoises, to show how the development of evolutionary science has reshaped understandings of island nature and how it is managed. The dissertation traces a “history of the present” through detailed archival and ethnographic attention to shifting human engagements with giant tortoises over the past century. Chapters chart the shifting biopolitical strategies through which endangered nonhuman life has been managed, from natural history and zoological collection to in situ conservation breeding. They analyze how changing methods of biological science—from morphological taxonomy to phylogenetics—articulate with different modes of valuing and saving nonhuman life. In iii particular, they track how scientific valuations of the islands as a natural laboratory justified both conservation work and tourism development. By detailing the relationship between conservation and tourism through which giant tortoises became charismatic icons, the dissertation reframes the recent crisis not as the intrusion of globalization into a space of pristine nature, but as produced through an alliance between scientific conservation and global capitalism. By engaging with the science and nature of evolution, the dissertation returns to the disciplinary history of geography. To avoid re-inscribing determinist interpretations that marked early twentieth century disciplinary engagements with evolutionary theory, the dissertation uses the Galápagos case to elaborate a critical geography of evolution. This perspective foregrounds the contingent, politicized processes through which nature and society co-evolve. It demonstrates how the circulation of evolutionary science orders relationships between nature and society and shapes the discursive and material production of landscapes. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I never intended to write a dissertation about tortoises, but it has been my great fortune that my plans turned and twisted in ways that led me to the Galápagos. This work would not have been possible without the openness, patience, and enthusiasm of countless others. To be able to build a career from a desire to travel and learn more about the world is a remarkable gift. For getting me interested in Geography as an undergraduate at Miami University, I must first thank Howell Lloyd and Stan Toops. For inviting me to Galápagos, I will always be indebted to Steve Walsh. To Wendy Wolford, thank you for seeing potential and pushing me to reach it. For eight years. To my committee, John Pickles, Scott Kirsch, Larry Grossberg, and Margaret Wiener, thank you for challenging and cheerleading, leading and listening. To Brenda Baletti, Sara Safransky, and Holly Worthen, I am so glad we were in it all together. My time in graduate school would have been much less productive and far less fun without you. To Joe Bryan, thank you for leading the darkside at a crucial moment. Following tortoises led me to places I could not have predicted. Thank you to Sheila Jasanoff for encouraging me to engage seriously with Galápagos iconography. To James Gibbs and Washington Tapia, I am humbled by your initial openness to the project when it was just beginning to take shape. It would not have been possible without your support. Diego Quiroga, you have been so great to think with over the years. Carlos Mena, thank you for the warmest welcomes and for untold logistical support. To Fausto Llerena and Moises Villafuerte, you welcomed me to your work with patience and much humor. To Linda Cayot and Gisella v Caccone, your willingness to explain your work at length was crucial for the success of the project. To Fredy Cabrera and Steve Blake, thank you for allowing me to tag along on your projects, and for slowing down enough for me to keep up. To Craig MacFarland, Tom Fritts, Howard Snell, and many others, thank you for reflecting on your own Galápagos histories in ways that greatly enriched my understanding of the place today. To Swen Lorenz, thank you for being a friend, and of course, the unsurpassed accommodations. Thank you also to Matt James and Barbara West. Paola Pozo, thank you for your enthusiastic help and for making me feel at home. Kim Engie, Laura Brewington, and Liza Guzman, Galápagos life would not have been the same without you! I also owe a huge debt of thanks to all the Galapagueños, local or otherwise, who welcomed me and took the time to share their worlds with me. This research also depended on the skills of numerous archivists and librarians, among whom I must especially thank Becky Morin and Christina Fidler at the California Academy of Sciences, Paul Martyn Cooper and Daisy Cunynghame at the British Museum (Natural History), Erika Loor at the Charles Darwin Research Station, Madeleine Thompson at the Wilderness Conservation Society, and Alexandre Coutelle at UNESCO. At the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park, thank you to Amy Jankowski, Kim Lovich, Tommy Owens, Jenna Lyons, and Oliver Ryder. This research was made possible by funding and support from the following institutions, to which I am most grateful: the American Council of Learned Societies/Mellon Foundation, the Social Science Research Council/Mellon Foundation, the National Science Foundation (Grant No. 608195277), the Association of American Geographers, and the Institute for Study of the Americas at UNC. vi Back at home, I have many friends and writing partners to thank, without whom dissertating would have been far less enjoyable. Thanks particularly to Ashley Carse, Kim Engie, Annelies Goger, Conor Harrison, Sara Safranksy, Freya Thimsen, Autumn Thoyre, and Holly Worthen. Finally, last but very far from least, thank you to my family: Pat, Mark and Melissa, Judy and John, Jean, Tricia, and most of all my mom, Linda, for being by biggest supporter and believing in me without fail. vii PREFACE On a Sunday morning in June of 2012, long-time Galápagos resident and tortoise keeper Fausto Llerena made his usual morning rounds at the Galápagos National Park’s Giant Tortoise Breeding Center, which has been named for Don Fausto since 1999 in honor of more than three decades of service. On this particular morning, Don Fausto found something unexpected: Lonesome George, the most famous Galápagos tortoise, had passed during the night. The news broke quickly across international media; Lonesome George was eulogized in Nature, The Economist, and the New York Times. For hundreds of thousands of tourists, George had become an icon of conservation efforts. The last of his particular species of Galápagos tortoise, from Pinta Island, he had lived in captivity since he was found alone on Pinta in 1971. His solitary plight was said to sound a clarion call about the human role in species extinctions. For centuries, Pacific sailors depended on Galápagos tortoises as a key source of fresh meat. Tortoise hunting was also taken up by island colonists when the Galápagos were first settled in the nineteenth century. The large, slow creatures were relatively easy catch in a landscape dense with lava rock, brambly bushes, and very little fresh water. On low, dry islands, where tortoise species evolved to be smaller and better suited to the limited vegetation, small populations dwindled quickly. On larger islands with more green vegetation and correspondingly larger tortoises, more difficult hunting meant populations survived longer. But by the early twentieth century, naturalists were increasingly alarmed about the fate of tortoises and the viii islands’ other unusual species and pushed for the creation of the national park to protect island flora and fauna. Today, the Galápagos are one of the world's most storied tropical archipelagos, famous for their unusual species, inspiring Darwin's theory of evolution, and as a top eco-tourism destination. Tortoises today are consumed mainly through tourism, where they continue to shape people’s livelihoods. Nearly 30,000 people live in the Galápagos today—the majority are Ecuadorians who work in tourism and support industries, in government jobs, and as conservationists. Residents inhabit only three percent of the archipelago; they live mostly in three coastal towns and adjacent land in the highlands, where six months of misty garua rains make agriculture feasible. The vast majority of land is protected national park, accessible only to tourists in carefully managed visitor sites and scientists working with research permits. Because of the cost of tours, most residents have never seen the Galápagos represented in nature documentaries. Nor have most seen a giant tortoise in the wild, although in places on the most populated island, Santa Cruz, tortoises and people co-inhabit agricultural areas. Because of such inequalities, tortoises—particularly Lonesome George—have been lightening rods for political protests among island residents upset at the resources spent on conservation and the way that conservation goals often infringe on their rights, particularly to fish in the Galápagos Marine Reserve.