Climate Change Doubled the Number of Endangered Galapagos Penguins

Shifting winds and ocean currents may have doubled the population of endangered Galapagos penguins. Scientists have found that changes in trade winds powered a resurgence of these penguins by enlarging a cold pool of water that the birds rely on for food and breeding.

The Galapagos Islands is a chain of islands located about 600 miles west of mainland Ecuador. These islands are home to the only penguins to be found in the Northern Hemisphere, which are actually on the endangered species list. The population of these penguins plummeted to only a few hundred individuals in 2000 and are now considered the rarest penguins in the world.

Most of the penguins live on the westernmost islands, Isabela and Fernandina. There, these penguins feed on fish that live in a cold pool of water on the islands' southwestern coasts. This pool is fed by an ocean current, called the Equatorial Undercurrent, which flows toward the islands from the west. When the current runs into Isabela and Fernandina, water surges upward, bringing cold, nutrient-rich water to the surface.

Now, new research suggests that the trade winds have shifted over the past three decades. This has nudged the Equatorial Undercurrent north, expanding the nutrient-rich cold water farther north along the coasts of the two islands.

"The penguins are the innocent bystanders experiencing feast or famine depending on what the Equatorial Undercurrent is doing from year to year," said Kristopher Karnauskas, a climate scientist, in a news release.

The researchers believe that climate change could further shift wind patterns and ocean currents. This could expand the cold water even further and drive fish populations even higher.

"With climate change, there are a lot of new and interesting stresses on ecosystems, but biology sometimes surprises us," said Karnauskas. "There might be places-little outposts-where ecosystems might thrive just by coincidence."

The findings are published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

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