User:Kobephillips/Galapagos Penguin

Anthropogenic Challenges
Galapagos penguins are sensitive to environmental variability in food resources. Galapagos penguins do not breed or mate when food resources are low, spending much of their time foraging at sea, which makes them difficult to observe. Climate change can cause environmental variability, and is linked to Anthropogenic impacts of the human dominated landscape. El Niño Southern Oscillation is a known phenomenon that predictably causes temperature changes in the sea-surface temperature, and has effected the biodiversity of the Galapagos Islands for 8000 years. The Galapagos penguin in one of the most affected marine birds by El Niño Southern Oscillation, increasing adult mortality. Additionally, Galapagos penguins are known to breed only when environmental conditions are most favorable to them. The drastic changes caused by the El Niño Southern Oscillation can impact the extinction rate of the Galapagos penguins if they are already in a decline. A combination of genetic drift and reduced population sizes have been shown to decrease genetic diversity in the Galapagos penguins, shown by low allele maintenance.

Anthropogenic challenges such as overfishing, and marine pollution can also impact marine ecosystems that the Galapagos penguins depend on to survive. Moreover, despite more recent observations, it is still unclear as to what the direct diet of the Galapagos penguin is.