{"id":7401,"date":"2025-10-21T21:10:32","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T08:10:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/epress\/?page_id=7401"},"modified":"2025-10-22T15:55:36","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T02:55:36","slug":"galapagos-racer","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/epress\/index.php\/perspectives-in-biodiversity\/volumes\/2025-1\/galapagos-racer\/","title":{"rendered":"Perspectives in Biodiversity | 2025 | Volume 3 | pp 76\u201382"},"content":{"rendered":"<nav class=\"is-responsive wp-block-navigation is-layout-flex wp-block-navigation-is-layout-flex\" aria-label=\"Perspectives in Biodiversity\" \n\t\t data-wp-interactive=\"core\/navigation\" data-wp-context='{\"overlayOpenedBy\":{\"click\":false,\"hover\":false,\"focus\":false},\"type\":\"overlay\",\"roleAttribute\":\"\",\"ariaLabel\":\"Menu\"}'><button aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-label=\"Open menu\" class=\"wp-block-navigation__responsive-container-open\" 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class=\"wp-block-navigation-item__label\">Contact Us <\/span><\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><\/nav>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Research paper<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/epress\/index.php\/perspectives-in-biodiversity\/volumes\/2025-1\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"7080\">Volume 3<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Population status of the Floreana racer (<em>Pseudalsophis biserialis biserialis <\/em>(G\u00fcnther, 1860)) on islets off the coast of Floreana Island, Gal\u00e1pagos Islands, Ecuador<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5707-5140\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5707-5140\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" class=\"wp-image-5587\" style=\"width: 20px;\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/epress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/image.png\" alt=\"\"><\/a> Luis Ortiz-Catedral<sup>1, * <\/sup>, Eli Christian<sup>1<\/sup>, Danny Rueda<sup>2<\/sup>, Christian Sevilla<sup>3<\/sup>, Jennifer C. Daltry<sup>4,5<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Affiliations:<br>1 The Snake Pit \u2013 Island Vertebrates Lab, School of Natural and Computational Sciences,<br>Massey University, Private Bag 102904, North Shore Mail Centre, Auckland, New Zealand.<br>2 Gal\u00e1pagos Life Fund, Calle Matazarnos 63 y Floreana, barrio Pelikan Bay, Puerto Ayora,<br>Santa Cruz, Islas Gal\u00e1pagos, Ecuador <br>3 Direcci\u00f3n de Ecosistemas, Direcci\u00f3n del Parque Nacional Gal\u00e1pagos, Av. Charles Darwin, S\/N Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz, Islas Gal\u00e1pagos, Ecuador<br>3 Fauna and Flora, David Attenborough Building, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QZ, United Kingdom<br>4 Re:wild, PO Box 129, Austin, TX 78767, USA.<br>* Corresponding author: <a href=\"mailto:luis.ortiz.catedral@gmail.com\">luis.ortiz.catedral@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Received: 24 July 2024 | Accepted: 11 July 2025 | Published: 21 October 2025<br>Senior Editor: Marleen Baling<br><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.34074\/pibdiv.003107\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.34074\/pibdiv.003107<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/epress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/PBD-Ortiz-Catedral-etal-2025.pdf\" data-type=\"attachment\" data-id=\"7621\">Download PDF<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Abstract<\/strong><br>The Floreana racer (Pseudalsophis biserialis biserialis) is a subspecies of the Eastern Gal\u00e1pagos racer, formerly present in the lowlands of Floreana Island but confined to only two localities since the late 1800s: Champion Islet and Gardner-by-Floreana, both free of introduced rodents and cats. We conducted the first population assessment for the subspecies by using a capture-mark-recapture method of tagged individuals. We captured and measured 123 individuals, and estimated an approximate density of 12 adult and subadult individuals per ha on Champion Islet, and 14 per ha on Gardner-by-Floreana. Based on our results, we calculate that the global population of this subspecies is approximately 1000\u20131500 individuals. The current population on Champion Islet is likely to be very small, possibly fewer than 100 individuals. Strict quarantine to prevent the accidental introduction of invasive alien species to both islets is paramount. Our results indicate that both islets hold sufficient numbers of Floreana racers to assist in the translocation plans for the species back to the lowlands of Floreana Island as part of the ecological restoration in the Gal\u00e1pagos Islands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\"><strong>Cite as<\/strong>:<br>Ortiz-Catedral, L., Christian, E., Rueda, D., Sevilla, C., Daltry, J. C. (2025). Population status of the Floreana racer (<em>Pseudalsophis biserialis biserialis<\/em> (Gu\u0308nther, 1860)) on islets off the coast of Floreana Island, Gal\u00e1pagos Islands, Ecuador. <em>Perspectives in Biodiversity<\/em>, 3(1): 76\u201382. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.34074\/pibdiv.003107\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.34074\/pibdiv.003107<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Research paper Volume 3 Population status of the Floreana racer (Pseudalsophis biserialis biserialis (G\u00fcnther, 1860)) on islets off the coast of Floreana Island, Gal\u00e1pagos Islands, Ecuador Luis Ortiz-Catedral1, * , Eli Christian1, Danny Rueda2, Christian Sevilla3, Jennifer C. Daltry4,5 Affiliations:1&#8230; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/epress\/index.php\/perspectives-in-biodiversity\/volumes\/2025-1\/galapagos-racer\/\">Continue Reading &rarr;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"parent":7080,"menu_order":8,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-7401","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/epress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/epress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/epress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/epress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/epress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7401"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/epress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7623,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/epress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7401\/revisions\/7623"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/epress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/epress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}