Scientists gather in Galapagos to discuss evolution

More than a dozen scientists from the Americas and Europe gathered in Ecuador's Galapagos Islands to discuss evolution in the place that inspired 19th-century British naturalist Charles Darwin to develop his theory of the evolution of species.

The scientists are attending the 3rd World Summit on Evolution on the Pacific archipelago, organizers told EFE.

Spain's Francisco Baquero, of the Instituto Ramon y Cajal de Investigacion Sanitaria, and Roderic Guigo, who leads a research team at the genomics center of Universidad de Pompeu Fabra, are among the scientists making presentations at the conference.

The summit was organized by Quito's Universidad San Francisco and is being held in Puerto Baquerizo, which is on San Cristobal Island and serves as the provincial capital. The Galapagos Islands are located about 1,000 km west of the coast of continental Ecuador and were declared a World Natural Heritage Site in 1978.

Some 95 percent of the territory's 8,000 sq km constitutes a protected area that is home to more than 50 species of animals and birds found nowhere else on the planet.