Santiago Island Research Articles

Confirmation of cooperative polyandry in the Galapagos hawk (Buteo galapagoensis)

Without genetic tests of parentage, descrip- tions of mating systems must be considered hypotheti- cal. Here we confirm the existence of cooperative polyandry in the Galapagos hawk (Buteo galapagoensis) using multilocus minisatellite DNA fingerprinting. In this species, breeding groups consist of one adult female and from one to eight males (the modal number of males is two). In polyandrous groups, all males copulate with the female and participate in the provisioning of the young. DNA samples from 66 individual hawks from ten breeding groups on the island of Santiago revealed mixed paternity in most groups. Multiple paternity was detected in five of six groups that produced two chicks in one breeding attempt (year). In addition, different males sired young in consecutive years in five of six groups in which male group membership was constant. Patterns of paternity suggest that reproductive success was randomly distributed among males within groups, with males apparently having equivalent probabilities of siring each young. Analysis of genetic similarity indi- cates that males within groups were typically not close relatives. These results demonstrate that the mating sys- tem of the Galapagos hawk is polyandrous, with rela- tively egalitarian relations among unrelated males be- longing to the same breeding group.

Watershed management program on Santiago Island, Cape Verde

The Watershed Management Program (WMP) was put into operation in early 1985 on Santiago Island, Cape Verde, with the stated purpose, “to develop and protect the soil and water resources of the Program-designated watersheds … to stabilize the natural environment and increase agricultural production potential in the Program area.” The approach to soil and water conservation in the program has been to build erosion and flood control structures (engineering approach) and plant trees (biological approach) to decrease rill and gully erosion, trap sediment behind control structures, provide flood protection, increase infiltration, increase fuelwood and fodder production, and increase water supplies for irrigation. There have been many successes resulting from specific management activities, but flawed approach or implementation in a few key areas has acted to impede the program's complete success, including lack of a scientific basis for evaluating its impact on soil and water conservation; poor design, placement, and maintenance of some major hydraulic structures; inadequate intervention in stabilizing farmlands or education of farmers and landowners in the need for and benefits of agroforestry; and incomplete integration of engineering and biological approaches.

Characteristics of a Microsporidium (Protozoa: Microspora) Infecting Grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Pyrgomorphidae) in Cape Verde, Africa

ABSTRACT A light and electron microscopic study was conducted of a microsporidium isolated from the grasshopper Pyrgomorpha cognata Krauss, 1877 collected in Santo Antão and Santiago Islands, Cape Verde. The evidence suggests that although there are some differences, such as tissues affected and size of spores, the organism appears conspecific with Nosema pyrgomorphae Toguebaye, Seck & Marchand, 1988, which was described from another species of the genus Pyrgomorpha Audinet-Serville, 1838 in Senegal. However, in addition to the differences in tissue specificity and size of spores, light microscopy studies also revealed some stages of the pathogen (uninucleate bodies and plasmodia) apparently not previously observed in N. pyrgomorphae.

A review of the Santiago Purple Heron Ardea purpurea bournei, with a report of a new colony

SummaryThe Santiago Purple Heron Ardea (purpurea) bournei is endemic to the island of Santiago, Cape Verde Islands. In contrast to nominate purpurea, it nests high in the crowns of large trees. During the 1950s and 1960s, the total population was probably c. 75 pairs, mainly at the now defunct heronry at São Domingos. After the disappearance of that colony during the early 1970s, the only known nesting site was at Boa Entrada, Santa Catarina region, comprising less than 10 pairs. In January 1991, a new colony was discovered at Banana, Ribeira Montanha, with c. 20 recently used nests of which 2–3 had large young in January–February. The current population is thought not to exceed c. 20 pairs. Breeding occurs from late August to March. Apart from two old records in April, there are no records from the non-breeding season. Probably the birds disperse into the mountainous interior of the island after breeding and feed on the dry hillsides. The causes of the decline are unclear, but scarcity of suitable nest-sites and deteriorating climatic conditions may be significant. Because of the extremely small population, the birds and their nesting sites must be protected by law and the local people informed about the birds and their need for protection; educational materials are being developed.

Marine interstitial Amphipoda and Isopoda (Crustacea) from Santiago, Cape Verde Islands

Three species of Amphipoda are recorded from interstices of a marine beach on the island of Santiago, Cape Verde Archipelago: Cabogidiella littoralis n. gen., n. sp. (Bogidiellidae), Psammogammarus spinosus n. sp. (Melitidae), and Idunella sketi Karaman, 1980 (Liljeborgiidae).The latter, widely distributed species (West Indies, Canary Islands), is new to the Cape Verde Islands. Furthermore, an isopod is described from the same locality, Caecostenetroides mixtum n. sp. (Gnathostenetroididae).

Some notes about nutrition at Praia, Cape Verde

The authors have studied the data relating to a 24 hours pilot inquiry carried out at 49 rural families from the Administrative Community of Praia, Santiago Island. Cape Verde. Their aims were: 1) to know about the consum-ed food; 2) to search out, in quality and quantity, the consumption in calories, proteins and other nutrients; 3) to define the level of satisfaction of the nutritional needs of the mentioned group. The discussion of the results stated the main conclusions: the group of nutriments mostly consumed was the fourth one which is composed by foods rich in carbohydrates and proteins of low valua. In this group the four most important nutriments are: maize, wheat, rice and bean, which represent around 66% of the total weight of them. An acceptable level of satisfaction of the individual average needs per family is achieved for proteins (although the consumption of proteins of vegetable origin is much more important than the consumption of animal proteins), for vitamins B1 and C and iron. Considering calories and other nutrients (vitamins A, B2 and PP, and calcium) there are some shortages. The individual average values per family obtained and those recommended by FAO/OMS showed significant differences for calories and nutrients (test ≪t≫ of Student).

Boiser les îles du Cap-Vert... pourquoi, comment, pour qui ?

Even though Cape Verde islands have a very specific location among the countries of the Sahel, they have an extremely irregular climate. Such irregularities, together with a strong human and grazing pressure on the soils even the sloping ones as well as on the vegetation, make afforestation, especially located in low arids areas, highly complex. Since 1978, thanks to funds from the Belgian government, international technical aid and a strengthening Cape Verdian Forest Service, very conclusive achievements in terms of siviculture and grazing have been carried out successfully, especially on Maio and Santiago islands

Breeding, Morphology, and Growth of the Endangered Dark-Rumped Petrel

-Dark-rumped Petrels (Pterodroma phaeopygia phaeopygia) in the Galapagos archipelago breed on several islands. Life-history characteristics such as mate and site fidelity, large egg size, long incubation periods, long incubation bouts, and chick growth patterns are similar to those of other procellarids. Adults nest annually, but the timing of breeding is out-of-phase among the islands of Floreana, Santa Cruz, and Santiago. Banding data for 1,500 adults and juveniles indicated that little or no interbreeding occurs among islands. From adult morphological characteristics measured during five years on Floreana and one year on both Santiago and Santa Cruz, we found that on Floreana, adults were sexually monomorphic in all measured characteristics except bill height, and the adults from Floreana tended to be larger in both size and mass than adults from the other two islands. The possibility that each island's population is distinct should be considered when formulating management plans concerning this species. Received 10 May 1989, accepted 6 November 1989. THE DARK-RUMPED Petrel (Pterodroma phaeopygia phaeopygia) breeds on at least four of the islands in the Galapagos archipelago: Floreana, Santa Cruz, Santiago, and San Crist6bal. They adhere to a rigid, annual breeding schedule; most other Galapagos seabirds breed semiannually or opportunistically (Harris 1977, Valle et al. 1987). Adult petrels return repeatedly to the same island-specific colonies to breed, and they probably disperse over broad areas of the eastern Pacific Ocean between breeding attempts (Murphy 1936). The Dark-rumped Petrel is endangered at all of its breeding sites (King 1981). We studied aspects of petrel breeding biology including mate and site fidelity, egg size, and adult weight loss during incubation bouts. We also compared the breeding chronologies of colonies on Floreana, Santa Cruz, and Santiago; and we examined adult morphological characteristics and chick growth from all three islands. The breeding biology of the Dark-rumped Petrel on Santa Cruz was studied previously by Harris (1970). Tomkins (1985) surveyed the archipelago in 1978-1979 and suggested that breeding was not synchronized among islands. This was supported by Coulter et al. (1981, 1982 1 Present address of author to whom reprint requests should be sent: School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27706 USA. unpubl.) who found differences in the initiation of breeding among different colonies on Floreana. We studied the breeding biology of the petrel on Floreana as a corollary to a conservation effort that alleviated petrel mortality through control of introduced mammalian predators (Cruz and Cruz 1987a, b; J. B. Cruz and F. Cruz 1987). MATERIALS AND METHODS Study areas. -We collected data from three locations in the Galapagos National Park in 1981, and 19831986 (Fig. 1). The colony on Floreana Island (1?13'S, 90?22'W) was located in a dormant volcano (Cerro Pajas) at 300-640 m above sea level (asl). We sampled petrels from the most accessible and least fragile nests along the interior walls of the volcano to minimize disturbance (J. B. Cruz and F. Cruz 1987). On Santa Cruz Island (0?9'S, 90?21'W), we sampled nests in the Media Luna colonies and their environs at 600-800 m asl. In these colonies, petrels frequently dig their burrows into the soft soil of water gullies (Harris 1970). We also studied petrels in the highlands of Santiago Island (0?8'S, 90?32'W), where colonies were widely scattered. Petrels on this island nest in small groups located in an area of at least 35 km2. We monitored ca. 25 km2. We found most nests deep in caves and other hard-to-reach areas at 500-900 m asl. Field methods.-On Floreana we checked 43 nests (1981), 104 nests (1983), and 100 nests (1984, 1985, and 1986) from January through September. We assessed nests at least weekly, but more frequent checks were made in some years. We banded all adults with 7-mm diameter num317 The Auk 107: 317-326. April 1990 This content downloaded from 157.55.39.132 on Mon, 02 Jan 2017 17:57:26 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 318 CRUZ AND CRUZ [Auk, Vol. 107

A cytological study of Simulium ruficorne (Diptera: Simuliidae) and its relationship to the S. ornatipes species complex

Polytene chromosome banding patterns in Simulium ruficorne populations from two island and a continental African locality were analyzed and a standard map was prepared. Distinct arrays of fixed and polymorphic rearrangements characterize unique cytotypes in Santiago Island, Tenerife, and Ivory Coast populations. Sex-chromosome differentiation where an inversion linked to the male determiner marks a Y chromosome also occurs in the Santiago Island population. No sibling species can be defined at present because of the absence of sympatric population samples. Comparison of banding patterns between S. ruficorne and the S. ornatipes–neornatipes species complex in Australia and New Caledonia shows striking similarities. Banding homology is readily established with about 90% of polytene banding recognizable between the two standards. Three inversions are shared between the lineages, further emphasizing their similarity. These results provide independent corroboration of the close relationship between S. ruficorne and S. ornatipes established from conventional taxonomy. The validity of using shared inversions and common breakpoints in phylogenetic comparisons is discussed in relation to the possibility of confusing similar but distinct rearrangements and the inversion-generating role of transposable elements. The possibility of transposable element mediated identical, independently derived, rearrangements seems unlikely, but in all studies the confusion of phylogenies by similar inversions must be carefully considered.Key words: Simulium ruficorne, polytene chromosome, inversion phylogeny.

Primate population structure: evaluation of models.

Genetic markers among macaques on Cayo Santiago island were analyzed in an attempt to infer aspects of mating structure. Several models that included high levels of gene flow among groups could not be distinguished, but the data are clearly incompatible with group endogamy and with high variance in male fitness. Drift effective size is approximately one half census size in this population.

Identity and taxonomic affinity of some members of the Amaranthaceae from the Galápagos Islands

ELIASSON, U. H. 1985. Identity and taxonomic affinity of some members of the Amaranthaceae from the Galapagos Islands. The type species of Pleuropetalum, P. DarwiniI, is endemic to the Galapagos and is morphologically closer to P. pleiogynum than to P. sprucei. Pleuropetalum pleiogynum has a wider distribution than previously assumed, ranging from Costa Rica to Peru. Amaranlhus anderssonii is closely related to A. urceolatus, a species of the Pacific coast of S America, and to A. berlandieri, a species of Texas and NE Mexico. Amaranlhus squamulatus, previously regarded as endemic to the Galapagos, is reported from the Guayas province of Ecuador. The genus Galapagosus, proposed for Amaranlhus sclerantoides, is rejected. Lithophila scirpoides, an overlooked taxon from the Galapagos, is believed to be an aberrant specimen of L. radicala. Lithophila subscaposa from the islands of Santiago and Pinzon differs morphologically from the specimens of Floreana. Iresine edmonstonii, probably erroneously reported from the Galapagos, is conspecific with J. angusti/olia. Blutaparon rigidum is morphologically divergent from other members of the genus, being adapted to arid conditions, and is assumed to be extinct.

The genetic consequences of social group fission in a wild population of rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta)

Micro-and macroevolutionary effects of social group fission will be enhanced if genetic differentiation between fission products is greater than expected by randomly dividing a parent group. There is evidence that division along lines of maternal relatedness produces such an enhanced effect in the provisioned colony of rhesus monkeys on Cayo Santiago Island. In contrast, the genetic analysis presented here of group fission in a wild population of rheusus monkeys in the Himalyan foothills of northern Pakistan shows no ‘matrilineal effect’. There is a greater than 70% chance of obtaining the observed differences between fission products by random fissioning alone (Fig. 1).

An oceanic carbonatite volcano on Santiago, Cape Verde Islands

Carbonatite volcanoes are rare, the only active one being at Oldoinyo Lengai in northern Tanzania1 although a few dead volcanic centres with recognizable carbonatitic extrusive materials are known elsewhere in Africa2–6 and one in Germany7. During an expedition in 1980 to the Cape Verde Islands, in the Central Atlantic Ocean 500 km west of Senegal, the eroded remains of a carbonatite volcano were discovered on the island of Santiago just north of Tarrafal at Arruela (Fig. 1). This, the first example of an oceanic carbonatitic volcanic pyro-clastic structure, shows typical carbonatite mineralogy and geochemistry, and demonstrates that carbonatite magmas can be generated in the oceanic lithosphere as well as in the continents.

Effects of Geographic Transfer on the Timing of Seasonal Breeding of Rhesus Monkeys

This is a study of the effects of geographic transfer on the timing of seasonal breeding of free-living rhesus monkeys on Cayo Santiago and La Parguera islands in Puerto Rico. The results demonstrated a progressive shift in the breeding season of the transferred group. The full shift required a period of 2 years. Change from one environment to another produced shifts in onset of estrous. The explanation for this phenomenon proposes an interaction between the specific reproductive state of the female, which may or may not be sensitive to a particular environmental change, and the environmental variation which is correlated with onset of breeding.

Geology of Santiago, Rábida, and Pinzón Islands, Galápagos

Santiago, Pinzon, and Rabida Islands are each single volcanoes that lie along a north-trending line near the center of the Galapagos Archipelago. The core volcano of Santiago Island and its flanking lava fields are composed of basaltic to intermediate lava of alkalic parentage. The smaller islands of Rabida and Pinzon are constructed of tholeiitic lava and tuff, ranging in composition from basalt to siliceous trachyte. On each of these two islands, products of eruptive cycles are preserved as tuff-flow sequences of decreasing degree of differentiation and increasing phenocryst abundance up-section, possibly a consequence of tapping successively deeper levels of compositionally zoned magma chambers. Island age generally increases to the south away from the Galapagos rift. Volcanic activity on Santiago spanned most of the past 0.7 m.y. K-Ar ages of rocks exposed on Rabida range from about 1.0 to 0.7 m.y.; those on Pinzon are approximately 1.2 to 0.8 m.y. in age. A part of the tectonic history of the central and southeastern Galapagos Islands is recorded in conspicuous, east-trending alignments of volcanic vents on Santiago and parallel normal faults and some aligned vents on six other islands to the southeast. The central islands among this group are also characterized by uplifted submarine rocks. On the basis of geological and geophysical observations, we hypothesize that this uplift, north-south distention, and associated volcanism may have resulted when an east-trending curtain of mantle upwelled beneath the center of the archipelago during the past 0.5 m.y. The east-trending tectonic pattern appears to be superimposed on the older northwest and northeast trends that have been cited for the entire island group.

Uncus and Amygdala Lesions: Effects on Social Behavior in the Free-Ranging Rhesus Monkey

The effect of uncinectomy on the social behavior of free-ranging rhesus monkeys was observed on Cayo Santiago Island. Operated subjects showed social indifference, failed to display appropriate aggressive and submissive gestures. were expelled from their social group, and eventually died. Two juvenile subjects with the lesion restricted to amygdala survived and have rejoined their social group. Size of lesion and age at operation were major factors in determining the degree of behavioral change.

4. Archaeological Sites in the Galápagos Group

The principal site discovered by the expedition is on the northwest coast of James Bay, Santiago Island. The local conditions for primitive settlement are conspiciously better in this bay than in any other coastal area visited by the expedition in the Galápagos. To a passing craft James Bay opens up wide and impressive, well sheltered by forest-clad mountains sufficiently withdrawn from the coast to leave space for a large and level plateau lifted up like a terrace above the fine sand beaches of the bay (Fig. 3). In the rainy season glittering streams of water appear on the sides of a cone-shaped volcano (Sugar Loaf) and reveal from far out at sea the likely location of waterholes. Even in the dry season there are one or 2 dependable waterholes a couple of miles inland at the foot of this hill.

Hemolytic Streptococci from the Throat of Normal Monkeys

In November 14, 1938, a shipment of 500 Rhesus monkeys arrived in San Juan from India. These animals came, on the average, from 300 miles inland from Calcutta. The period of time they remained in this city awaiting shipment varied with different animals from a few days to 3 weeks. The shipment left Calcutta, September 30, 1938. The ports touched enroute were: Colombo, Ceylon, one day; Boston Mass., 2 days; and New York City, 2 days. We studied the throat flora of 172 of these monkeys soon after arrival, over a period from November 20 to December 12, 1938, and the beta-hemolytic streptococci recovered were studied in considerable detail. The materials and methods used were the same as those employed in a previous investigation. During the second week of December, 1938, the monkeys were taken to Santiago Primate Colony, where they were set free. Throat cultures from 309 monkeys which were in apparent good health were taken again over a period from January 16 to February 22, 1940, and the hemolytic streptococci recovered were studied, utilizing media and methods similar to those employed before. Seegal, Heller and Joblanowitz studied the normal bacterial flora of 48 monkeys in New York City and recovered beta-hemolytic streptococci in 28 instances. Of these, 19 were Group A, 4 Group C, 5 Group G, and one, a minute streptococcus belonging to Group F. Of the 172 monkeys examined in 1938, 22 (12.7%) harbored hemolytic streptococci in their throat, of which 10 (45.6%) were Group A, 8 (35.9%) were Group C, and 4 (18.5%) were Group G. Of the 309 monkeys examined in 1940, 39 (12.5%) harbored hemolytic streptococci in their throat. None of them were Group A. Twenty-six (66.6%) were Group C, and 13 (33.3%) were Group G. It is interesting to note that, though the incidence of beta-hemolytic streptococci is the same in both cases, about one-half of the streptococci recovered from the throats of the monkeys soon after arrival, belonged to Group A, while no streptococci belonging to this serological group were encountered among the strains obtained after the monkeys had been in Santiago Island for about 14 months.