Title: An Exploration of the Motivations and Benefits of Participation in an Earthwatch Expedition in the Galápagos Islands

Charles Darwin was perhaps the most famous visitor to the Galápagos Islands, renowned for their scenic beauty and unique biodiversity. Now a rare cloud forest endemic to the Galápagos is being threatened by an influx of invasive plant species. Through the Earthwatch Institute, an international non-profit research organization that engages volunteers in conservation science, approximately 70 volunteers participated in research to identify the distribution and abundance of exotic plant species in the Galápagos. While Earthwatch and other organizations that produce programs for volunteering in research programs abroad depend on the engagement of volunteers to fund and perform field research, little is known about the motivations for, benefits of, and needs presented by such participation. In particular, little is known about the participation of a growing segment of the population - senior citizens - despite the fact that new research suggests that volunteers participating in such types of programs will increasingly have an elderly profile. Using survey and interview data, this study examined the motivations for, benefits of, behavior changes, and needs presented by participation in a volunteer-based conservation science project in the Galápagos Islands.