Who Are We?
Our Story:
Most of my kind live on the western island of the Galapagos called Fernandia which is just off the coast of Isabella island. Us penguins living here have trouble keeping cool and swim in the cold ocean currents of el nino bringing cool ocean water from Antarctica.
A Keystone species or very important organism to my ecosystem of the galapagos islands is algae. This is so because Algae is a main source of food and starts the energy diffusion to primary consumers who are later eaten by galapagos penguins. Without algae creating energy there would be no energy going up to the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th levels consumers such as myself. |
My species just like every other organism has a niche or a job that they only have. Our niche includes when they feed on fish, krill, and crustaceans which is a form of predication. Another niche of ours is when we make nests for their young in the ocean. We penguins share a parasitic relation with a parasite known as Plasmodium.This parasite has been found inside of us and is very deadly since we do not have a mature immune system.
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El Nino
El Niño suppresses the normal rise of cold water off the Pacific coast of the Americas. The rise is much needed because it supports plankton and fish species, kelp forests and sea mammals such as sea lions and seals. The global weather anomaly has hit the Galapagos Islands hard. Although a completely natural event, the weather pattern has taken a vital part of the ecosystem out of the chain. El nino is shown in a global weather map below. Climate of the Galapagos Islands
Due to the Humboldt Current, the climate of the Galapagos Islands is generally mild and dry, with the temperature rarely rising above 80°F. |
Human Impact
Aside from the unforgiving force of nature, many of the environmental issues facing the Galapagos originate from a potentially controllable source –-humans. Three problems the Islands (and its inhabitants) face are Migration, Tourism, and Over-fishing; all of which are man-made. The density dependent factors in the Galapagos Islands are due to the massive amount of penguins. Factors include: food availability, predators, and disease risks. Density independent factors are unaffected by population. Factors include: weather, climate, and natural disasters. |
Current research
All money that is donated will be put into the research of finding a stable environment for the penguins. A stable location will allow us to not be stressed and reproduce more easily. Scientists have already created special conservation areas on small islands to help us survive harsh environmental conditions.