Faculty

Eric Long, assistant professor of biology, and Cynthia Bishop, assistant professor of biology are leading the 2008 Galápagos Islands Tropical Biology study trip. Students will also receive instruction from an Ecuadorian naturalist onboard the yacht Angelique.

Going out on his first trip to the Galapagos Islands, Dr. Long is a wildlife ecologist who studies the behavior, ecology, and conservation of vertebrates. He says, “The tropical biology trip to the Galapagos is a fantastic opportunity for students to observe and study organisms in their natural environment.

Through hiking, snorkeling, and touring the Galapagos, students have a chance to explore, first-hand, the biology of this historically important and wonderfully diverse tropical ecosystem.”

Dr. Bishop is a veterinarian as well as a professor, and her research interests include physiology and parasitology in domestic and wild animals. She was a team leader with Dr. Bob Weathers on the past three Galapagos trips (2002, 2004, 2006). “In 2006, we met a research team at the Darwin Center and learned about a parasite that was introduced into finches on Isabella that were endangering their survival.  I was fascinated, because it tied into the research that I was involved in at SPU finding safe and effective treatment for finches with deadly airsac mites.”