The blue-footed boobies, native to the Galapagos Islands, have suddenly stopped breeding. There has been more than a fifty percent population decrease in the past two decades. So, why have these beautiful birds stopped breeding?
Some scientists believe that this dramatic decrease mirrors the decrease of the sardine population in the area. The blue-footed boobies eat sardines almost exclusively. Because of the sardine decrease, the birds have not been able to get the nutrition that they need which directly affects the breeding rate. The cause of the sardine population decrease may be due to over fishing and climate change in the area.
The blue-footed boobies that currently inhabit the Galapagos, are growing older and will soon be too old to breed. The race is on for scientists to solve this issue to keep the blue-footed boobies off the endangered species list.
NOS Themes:
- Role of motivation and curiosity
- Science is based on evidence
- Science is subject to debate and is tentative
Read More at:
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/extinction-countdown/2014/04/23/blue-footed-boobies-breeding/
How sad! Those birds are such beautiful creatures! I did some research to find some further information and turns out, according to a National Geographic article, that the breeding and reproductivity of these birds has been dropping since 1998 and the population has dropped from around 20,000 in the 1960's to 6,400 today. What i'm wondering is why hasn't this come before now if the population has been dropping since 1998??
ReplyDelete