Galapagos Penguins in a Warming World: An Exemplar of Biological Loopholes in the Anthropocene

Abstract:

The Galapagos is a flourishing yet fragile ecosystem whose health is particularly sensitive to regional and global climate variations. The distribution of several species, including the Galapagos Penguin, is intimately tied to upwelling of cold, nutrient–rich water along the western shores of the archipelago. Here we show, using reliable, high–resolution sea surface temperature observations, that the Galapagos cold pool has been intensifying and expanding northward since 1982. The linear cooling trend of 0.8°C per 33 years is likely the result of long–term changes in equatorial ocean circulation previously identified. Moreover, the northward expansion of the cold pool is dynamically consistent with a slackening of the cross–equatorial component of the regional trade winds—leading to an equatorward shift of the mean position of the Equatorial Undercurrent. The implied change in strength and distribution of upwelling has important implications for ongoing and future conservation measures in the Galapagos.