Islands are particularly vulnerable to the effects of land cover change due to their limited size and remoteness. This study analyzes vegetation cover change in the agricultural area of Santa Cruz (Galapagos Archipelago) between 1961 and 2018. To reconstruct multitemporal land cover change from existing land cover products, a multisource data integration procedure was followed to reduce imprecision and inconsistencies that may result from the comparison of heterogeneous datasets. The conversion of native forests and grasslands into agricultural land was the principal land cover change in the non-protected area. In 1961, about 94% of the non-protected area was still covered by native vegetation, whereas this had decreased to only 7% in 2018. Most of the agricultural expansion took place in the 1960s and 1970s, and it created an anthropogenic landscape where 67% of the area is covered by agricultural land and 26% by invasive species. Early clearance of native vegetation took place in the more accessible—less rugged—areas with deeper-than-average and well-drained soils. The first wave of settlement consisted of large and isolated farmsteads, with 19% of the farms being larger than 100 ha and specializing in diary and meat production. Over the period of 1961–1987, the number of farms doubled from less than 100 to more than 200, while the average farm size decreased from 90 to 60 ha/farmstead. Due to labor constraints in the agricultural sector, these farms opted for less labor-intensive activities such as livestock farming. New farms (popping up in the 1990s and 2000s) are generally small in size, with <5 ha per farmstead, and settled in areas with less favorable biophysical conditions and lower accessibility to markets. From the 1990s onwards, the surge of alternative income opportunities in the tourism and travel-related sector reduced pressure on the natural resources in the non-protected area.

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&lt;p&gt;Understanding the complex interactions between climate, vegetation and soils is important for the sustainable management of soil ecosystems in the context of climate and land use change. Few benchmark data exist on soil-landscape and vegetation interactions, as most soil ecosystems have a legacy of past land use and management.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;By working in the Galapagos Islands, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, we have the opportunity to better constrain the coevolution of soils and vegetation over millennial timescales for pristine soil ecosystems. Five monitoring sites are located on the Pacific Island of Santa Cruz, and they cover a ~10 km long NW-SE stretch. Along this gradient with a 10-fold increase in mean annual precipitation, the climate effects on the coevolution of soils and vegetation were quantified. Soil weathering extent was assessed through geochemical proxies, and these data were then related to time-series of precipitation, air and soil temperature, and humidity to explore the relationships between soil and vegetation development, and climate. Then, by contrasting the data from five pristine soil ecosystems with data from agricultural soils, new information was obtained on the anthropogenic effects on soil ecosystems.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Soil weathering indices and elemental mass balances were used as a measure of soil development and were derived from the soil&#039;s physical and chemical properties measured at soil profiles. For the pristine sites, there is a nonlinear relationship between the degree of soil and vegetation development and (hydro)climatic data. Forest conversion into agricultural land leads to measurable effects on soil ecosystem services and functions.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Understanding the spatial variation of rock-derived weathering products across heterogeneous landscapes is important to constrain ecosystem processes. Few quantitative data exist on soil-landscape development in pristine volcanic ecosystems, as most of these ecosystems are prone to intensive land use and management. By working in the Galapagos Islands, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, we aim to constrain physical erosion and weathering over millennial timescales from empirical data in pristine ecosystems. Our monitoring sites on the island of Santa Cruz cover a ~10 km long NW-SE stretch with a 10-fold increase in precipitation rates and associated changes in vegetation cover. In five ecosystems, we monitor two sites: one that is developed on basaltic lava flows and a second one on basaltic scoriae. By controlling for the age and composition of the basaltic parent material, we focused on the unique natural soil landscapes that developed along the sharp hydroclimatic gradient. We determined weathering extent, and rates of physical erosion based on geochemical proxies and meteoric &lt;sup&gt;10&lt;/sup&gt;Be isotopes (&lt;sup&gt;10&lt;/sup&gt;Be&lt;sub&gt;m&lt;/sub&gt;). These data were then related to time-series of precipitation, air, and soil temperature to explore the relationship between soil development, climate, and parent material. Along the hydroclimatic gradient, the empirical data on chemical weathering and physical erosion show a nonlinear relationship with the precipitation rate.&lt;/p&gt;