Sharing land with giants: Habitat preferences of Galapagos tortoises on farms

One of the most pressing dilemmas our time is determining how to satisfy demands a growing human population while still conserving biodiversity. Worldwide, land modification accommodate resource needs has caused significant declines in wildlife populations. To help minimize biodiversity loss, we must support on human-dominated land, such as farms and urban areas, but knowledge do so lacking. Agriculture major driver modification; also potential play role critically endangered ecosystem engineers that use farms, giant Galapagos tortoises, need understand characteristics encouraging or hindering them. quantify tortoise habitat preferences, assessed relationship between density, structure, land-use type, by recording density Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos, over two years. Tortoise was lowest abandoned farmland highest tourist areas strongly positively correlated with abundant ground cover, short vegetation, few shrubs. The features favoured tortoises could potentially be manipulated conservation farms. Measuring preferences an important step towards balancing human-enterprise.