Status and trends of South American banded penguins

BOERSMA, DEE; GARCÍA BORBOROGLU, PABLO; CARDENAS, SUSANA; SIMEONE, ALEJANDRO

Cape Town

Congreso; II World Seabird Congress; 2015

World Seabird Union

The three species of banded penguins that breed in South America range in IUCN's classification status from near threatened for the Magellanic penguin (Spheniscus magellanicus), to vulnerable for the Humboldt (Spheniscus humboldti), to endangered for the Galápagos penguin (Spheniscus mendiculus). The population size of each species influences the extent of its distribution. The smallest population (1,500-4,700 penguins) is found only in the Galápagos Islands. The Humboldt penguin numbers at least 60,000 birds and breeds along the coasts of Peru and Chile. This species is considered vulnerable because of interactions with fisheries, habitat destruction, and the extreme fluctuations and a decline in their population with ENSO events. Like the Galápagos penguin, Humboldt penguins never recovered from the 1972 and 1983-84 El Niños. The Magellanic penguin, the most abundant and widespread species, is found in both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and numbers more than a million individuals. Magellanic populations do not seem to fluctuate as strongly with ENSO events. Conversely, Galápagos and Humboldt penguins are clearly negatively impacted in the Pacific. In the Atlantic, where ENSO events are not as well developed, big storms can cause reproductive failure. The trends for these temperate penguin species are likely to be negative over the long term because of stressors associated with the increased frequency and severity of ENSO events and ineffectual management of commercial fisheries.