Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Ecology: Wish you were here

Nature volume 463, pages 22–23 (2010)Cite this article

Subjects

An annual excursion to an exclusive Caribbean island has yielded an impressive body of ecological fieldwork. Just don't call it a holiday, says Mark Schrope.

It's supper time on Guana Island in the British Virgin Islands and a dozen diners are relaxing on a candlelit veranda atop a cliff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. They're enjoying a four-course meal and several bottles of wine. The privilege of staying at this very private resort — the only sign of civilization on the 340-hectare island — typically costs guests between US$700 and $8,000 per night. But these aren't typical guests. They're biologists, and if the constant talk of taxonomy isn't enough to prove it, they have physical evidence. After the meal, zoologist James 'Skip' Lazell (pictured above), produces from his shirt pocket a small bag containing a live snake, Liophis exigua. It had been captured that evening and would soon be measured and returned to where it was found.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Authors
  1. Mark Schrope
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

Mark Schrope is a freelance writer based in Florida.

Related links

Related links

Related external links

The Conservation Agency

Guana Island Resort

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Schrope, M. Ecology: Wish you were here. Nature 463, 22–23 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/463022a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/463022a

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing