The real work of ecosystem engineering begins at the back end of this slow-moving grazer. Tortoises graze the vegetation, fertilize the soil with their dung, and disperse seeds — creating a unique grassland ecosystem called “tortoise turf.”
Read more: Smithsonian
Two species of invasive plants on the most developed island in the Galapagos are emerging as a major threat to the millennia-old migration routes that giant tortoises follow up and down the slopes of volcanoes. Solving it is complicated.
Read more: Hakai Magazine
A deadly water mold — a relative of the pathogen that causes potato blight — is devastating what’s left of the South Atlantic island’s endemic trees. Scientists are racing against time to save these plants from extinction.
Read more: Hakai Magazine
An island in the Galápagos is making its ecological comeback thanks to a burgeoning tortoise population. These tortoises, the children and grandchildren of Diego, one of the archipelago’s most famous icons, are helping shape the native vegetation and restore an ecosystem in disrepair.
Read more: BBC Future
