Science Source

Metapopulation Tracking Juvenile Penguins Reveals an Ecosystem-wide Ecological Trap

Tracks postnatal dispersal in African penguins (Spheniscus demersus) from eight sites across their breeding range to test whether they have become ecologically trapped in the degraded Benguela ecosystem
Finds that climate change and industrial fishing have depleted forage fish stocks in this system
Finds that juvenile penguin survival is low in populations selecting degraded areas, and Bayesian projection models suggest that breeding numbers are ∼50% lower than if non-impacted habitats were used, revealing the extent and effect of a marine ecological trap for the first time