Management of Introduced Animals in Galapagos

The arrival of humans in the Galapagos Islands, since their discovery in 1535, brought a series of negative impacts and, in some cases, irreversible damage, such as the extinction of endemic plants and rodents on several islands. A major cause of these impacts was the deliberate or unintentional introduction of non-native organisms. There have been substantial efforts to eradicate introduced species on the islands over the last 20 years and, in other cases when it has not been possible to eradicate a species, control activities have at least reversed negative impacts.