Fieldwork Spotlight: Lorraine Pérez’s Predoctoral Research in San Cristobal, Galapagos Islands

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Contributed by Graduate Student Lorraine Pérez

My research evaluates the interactions between birds and the parasites that affect them. Specifically, I get to study Darwin’s finch birds in the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador, and examine how urban vs. non-urban finch populations are affected by an invasive parasite that can cause up to 100% chick mortalities. For my thesis, I am interested in examining whether the behavior of finch parents influences the parasitism risk and survival of urban vs. non-urban chicks.

Picture of the field crew (from left to right: Elizabeth Tituaña, Lorraine Pérez (myself), Isabela Vargas, and Sarah Knutie) at Jardín de las Opuntias.
Figure 1: Picture of the field crew (from left to right: Elizabeth Tituaña, Lorraine Pérez (myself), Isabela Vargas, and Sarah Knutie) at Jardín de las Opuntias.
Picture of Lorraine Pérez checking the status of a Darwin’s finch nest (i.e to check whether there were eggs or nestlings) using a camera that is wirelessly connected to a DVR.
Fig 2: Picture of me checking the status of a Darwin’s finch nest (i.e to check whether there were eggs or nestlings) using a camera that is wirelessly connected to a DVR.

Between February-May 2025, I conducted field work in San Cristobal, Galapagos Islands along with my PI Sarah Knutie, Isabela Vargas (MS student at the University of Brussels), and Elizabeth Tituaña (field technician) (Fig. 1). During this time, we monitored the nests of small ground finches in the town of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno and the rural site of Jardin de las Opuntias (Fig. 2). Most of the field work consisted of placing in-nest cameras to collect video footage on the behavior of finch parents (Fig. 3).

Picture of how the cameras looked inside the nest.
Fig. 3: Picture of how the cameras looked inside the nest.

We successfully obtained footage from 11 non-urban nests and 9 urban nests, and currently, a group of undergraduate students (Hailey Wildman, Chuanmai Husu, and Gabriel Lee) and I are extracting behavioral data from these videos using BORIS software. I do not have preliminary results for my study yet (since I am still collecting data from the videos), but I plan to start statistical analysis in the late Fall.