DAVID L. PEARSON is a Research Professor in the Department of Biology at Arizona State University. His research is concentrated on ecological interactions among communities of species, especially tiger beetles. He has studied habitats from desert grasslands and coral atolls to tropical rainforests and has written more than 75 scientific articles. Having conducted ecological research in Peru and Ecuador intermittently during the past 30 years, he has become involved with environmental education and ecotourism in the region and is co-author of The New Key to Ecuador and the Galapagos, a tourists guide to hotels, restaurants, and places of natural interest, and of Ecuador and Its Galapagos Islands: The Ecotravellers'Wildlife Guide.
LES BELETSKY is a professional wildlife biologist and university zoology teacher. Prior to taking up writing wildlife guides, he conducted many years of field research into the ecology and behavior of birds, along the way publishing many scientific reports and writing two books.