Cerro Pajas (also known as Cerro Paja or Cerro de pajasDavid William Steadman (1982
"Fossil birds, reptiles, and mammals from Isla Floreana, Galapagos Archipelago"
PhD thesis,

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. ...

.) is an inactive volcano located in the south of

Floreana Island Floreana Island (Spanish: ''Isla Floreana'') is an island of the Galápagos Islands. It was named after Juan José Flores, the first president of Ecuador, during whose administration the government of Ecuador took possession of the archipelago ...

in the

Galápagos Islands The Galápagos Islands ( es, Islas Galápagos) are an archipelago of volcanic islands in the Eastern Pacific, located around the Equator west of the mainland of South America. They form the Galápagos Province of the Republic of Ecuador, with ...

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar language, Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechuan ...

. It is the highest peak on Floreana, with a maximum elevation of 640 meters above sea level.Michael Dvorak, Erwin Nemeth, Beate Wendelin, Patricio Herrera, Denis Mosquera, David Anchundia, Christian Sevilla, Sabine Tebbich & Birgit Fessl (2017)
"Conservation status of landbirds on Floreana: the smallest inhabited Galápagos Island"
''Journal of Field Ornithology'', 88(2): 132-145.

Wildlife

The area around the Cerro Pajas crater contains the largest expanse of highland '' Scalesia pedunculata'' forest on the island, providing important habitat for multiple species of Darwin's finches, including the critically endangered

medium tree finch The medium tree finch (''Camarhynchus pauper'') is a critically endangered species of bird in the Darwin's finch group of the tanager family Thraupidae. It is endemic to the Galápagos Islands where it is only found on Floreana Island. Its name ...

.Jody A. O'Connor, Frank J. Sulloway & Sonia Kleindorfer (2010
"Avian population survey in the Floreana highlands: is Darwin’s Medium Tree Finch declining in remnant patches of Scalesia forest?"
''Bird Conservation International'', 20(4): 343-353.

Petrel colony

Cerro Pajas hosts the island's most important colony of Galapagos petrels.Duffy, David (1984) "The endangered petrel of the Galapagos volcanoes." ''Noticias de Galapagos'', 39: 24-27. In 1981, it was estimated that the petrel colony, comprising about 2000 breeding pairs, was declining by 33% every year, due to predation by

black rats The black rat (''Rattus rattus''), also known as the roof rat, ship rat, or house rat, is a common long-tailed rodent of the stereotypical rat genus ''Rattus'', in the subfamily Murinae. It likely originated in the Indian subcontinent, but is n ...

cats The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

and other introduced species.Cruz, Justine B., and Felipe Cruz (1996)
"Conservation of the dark-rumped petrel ''Pterodroma phaeopygia'' of the Galápagos Islands, 1982–1991"
''Bird Conservation International'', 6(1): 23-32. The colony is also threatened by introduced plants, such as ''Lantana camara'' L., which was introduced to the island in 1938. In 1982, the

World Wildlife Fund The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wor ...

funded a five-year conservation programme to control rats, cats,

pigs The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus ''Sus'', is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of ''Sus ...

goats The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

and

donkeys The domestic donkey is a hoofed mammal in the family Equidae, the same family as the horse. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a ...

at the colony. Prior to 1984, the residents of Floreana had declared Cerro Pajas a "

Protected Area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

", an initiative led by local conservationist Felipe Cruz. In the early 1980s, conservationists launched the first programme to control introduced rats at Cerro Pajas, to improve the petrels' breeding success. This programme was started by Malcolm Coulter, an

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

at the

Charles Darwin Research Station #REDIRECT Charles Darwin Foundation The Charles Darwin Foundation (Spanish: ''Fundación Charles Darwin'') was founded in 1959, under the auspices of UNESCO and the World Conservation Union. The Charles Darwin Research Station serves as headqu ...

, and continued in its early years by Felipe Cruz and American naturalist Tina Beach. In 1983, the first year in which rats were controlled, the petrels' overall nesting success rose from 31% to 46%, despite high rainfall that collapsed many of the petrels' burrows. The following year, breeding success improved even more, with 72 chicks fledged across 100 nests.Felipe Cruz, Justine Cruz, Jaime Astudillo & Hugo Sanchez (1984) "Protecting the Hawaiian petrel." ''Noticias de Galapagos'', 40: 8. Targeted hunting of cats, goats, donkeys and pigs also reduced disturbance of petrel nests. Throughout the 1980s, continued rat baiting allowed the petrel colony to maintain high levels of nesting success.

Gallery

File:Scalesia forest inside the Cerro Pajas crater, on Floreana Island. January 2020.jpg, ''Scalesia'' forest inside the Cerro Pajas crater. File:View of Cerro Pajas crater, Floreana Island.jpg, Looking down on Cerro Pajas crater. File: Galapagos petrel nesting under boulder at Cerro Pajas.jpg, Galapagos petrel nesting under a boulder at Cerro Pajas.

References

Notes

Citations