Introduction and Overview

Abstract

The Galapagos Islands sit almost 1000 km west of Ecuador in the waters of the eastern equatorial Pacific. We have studied the birds there, most of which are endemic, and their parasites and pathogens, since 2001. Here I introduce the structure of this book, with sections on (1) the arrival of avian lineages and pathogens; (2) what commonly happens in new island populations once established, and the consequences for their now-isolated lineages; (3) how new host-parasite relationships are formed; (4) how pathogens spread once established; and (5) the rewards and challenges of attempting to understand disease threats with international teams. The sequential structure is intentional, and the author teams for individual chapters were invited because of their expertise on their topic, but most had not worked together before. Several teams wandered slightly away from their invited topics to present a broader context, but others did not. Some teams adhered closely to their own work, and others offered more comprehensive reviews on their topics. This book thus contains a mixture of voices and perspectives appropriate for such a complex topic.