A large-scale multi-species spatial depletion model for overwintering waterfowl

All long‐distance migrants must cope with changing environments, but species differ greatly in how they do so. In some species, individuals might be able to adjust by learning from individual experiences and by copying others. This could greatly speed up the process of adjustment, but evidence from the wild is scarce. Here, we investigated the processes by which a rapidly growing population of barnacle geese (Branta leucopsis) responded to strong environmental changes on spring‐staging areas in Norway. One area, Helgeland, has been the traditional site. Since the mid‐1990s, an increasing number of geese stage in another area 250 km further north, Vesterålen. We collected data on goose numbers and weather conditions from 1975 to 2017 to explore the extent to which the increase in population size and a warmer climate contributed to this change in staging area use. During the study period, the estimated onset of grass growth advanced on average by 0.54 days/year in each of the two areas. The total production of digestible biomass for barnacle geese during the staging period increased in Vesterålen but remained stable in Helgeland. The goose population has doubled in size during the past 25 years, with most of the growth being accommodated in Vesterålen. The observations suggest that this dramatic increase would not have happened without higher temperatures in Vesterålen. Records of individually marked geese indicate that from the initial years of colonization onwards, especially young geese tended to switch to Vesterålen, thereby predominating in the flocks at Vesterålen. Older birds had a lower probability of switching to Vesterålen, but over the years, the probability increased for all ages. Our findings suggest that barnacle geese integrate socially learned behaviour with adjustments to individual experiences, allowing the population to respond rapidly and accurately to global change.

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“…In this sense, pink‐footed geese may have facilitated the colonization of Vesterålen by barnacle geese (cf. Baveco, Kuipers, & Nolet, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Northward range expansion in spring‐staging barnacle geese is a response to climate change and population growth, mediated by individual experience

Tombre

Oudman

Shimmings³

et al. 2019

Global Change Biology

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“…Therefore, accounting for such stochasticity will often yield a higher “best” foraging intensity (see below) than under deterministic foraging success. Consequently, if a bird with body reserves x forages with intensity u at site i , its body reserves in the next time‐step will be

x + u g_{j} false(i false) - e

, with the energy expenditure e being 1160 kJ/d (Baveco, Kuipers, & Nolet, ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shooting may aggravate rather than alleviate conflicts between migratory geese and agriculture

Bauer

Lisovski

Eikelenboom‐Kil

et al. 2018

Journal of Applied Ecology

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Many migratory goose populations have thrived over the past decades and their reliance on agricultural resources has often led to conflicts. Control and management measures are sought after but since migratory geese use several sites in their annual cycle, local management actions should consider their potential effects further down the flyway. We used a behaviour‐based migration model to illustrate the consequences of management actions involving hunting, derogation shooting and scaring at single or multiple locations along the flyway, considering various mechanisms of how geese might perceive shooting/hunting. Furthermore, as a proxy for the agricultural damage caused, we calculated the per capita biomass consumption between scenarios—both over time and cumulatively. We found that hunting, shooting and scaring can result in a suite of direct and indirect consequences on migration and foraging behaviour. Most importantly, hunting/shooting on a particular site had implications not only for the behaviour at the actual site but also for behaviour at, and use of, other sites. Furthermore, the specific consequences of shooting/hunting could be counter‐intuitive, that is, aggravate rather than alleviate agricultural damage, depending on where along the migration route changes had taken place and the mechanisms through which hunting/shooting was assumed to affect geese. Synthesis and applications. Management plans are being discussed or implemented for several migratory goose populations and often include shooting, hunting or scaring at one or multiple locations. Using a behaviour‐based model, we assessed the consequences of such local management measures and found that they can indeed lead to a reduction of agricultural conflicts locally but may also aggravate the conflict or shift it to other sites along the flyway. Thus, we recommend the use of these models to scrutinize the efficiency of specific management measures and to assist in identifying an international management regime that minimizes conflicts on a flyway level while still maintaining migratory populations.

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“…The analysis was not based on values representing the upper FFD distance, because feeding on or near maximum FFD is likely not energetically sustainable. Flight is the most energetically demanding behavior of wintering birds (King 1974, Austin and Humburg 1992, Owen et al 1992, McKinney and McWilliams 2005, and the balance between daily intake of metabolizable energy and energy expenditure would likely be compromised by a sustained pattern of prolonged foraging flights (Pearse et al 2010, Baveco et al 2011). Short-duration flights have higher costs per time unit than long flights because of the high energetic costs of takeoff and climbing (Gauthier et al 1984, Nudds andBryant 2000), but total energy expenditure should increase as FFD increases.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Energy expenditure and daily energy budgets are affected by distance of foraging flights (Pearse et al 2010), as is the givingup density, or the point at which food depletion makes it no longer profitable to feed in a given field (van Gils and Tijsen 2007). Likewise, crop damage by waterfowl may be alleviated by locating vulnerable crops farther from roost sites, even if still within the FFD of waterfowl (Sugden 1976, Amano et al 2007, Baveco et al 2011. Landscape carrying capacity within functional units may be affected by location of wind turbines, towers, and other tall infrastructure in or near foraging sites, if their placement leads to avoidance of areas (Larsen and Madsen 2000, Kuvlesky et al 2007, Rees 2012; placement of wind turbines, towers, or other tall infrastructure between roost and foraging sites may also lead to waterfowl mortality (Bevanger 1994, Drewitt andLangston 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The distance covered by foraging animals, especially those that radiate from a central area to forage, i.e., central place foragers (Hamilton and Watt 1970), may affect daily energy expenditure of individuals (Baveco et al 2011) along with ecosystem, community, and population dynamics (Greenleaf et al 2007, Rainho andPalmeirim 2011). It also has conservation and landscape planning implications for multiple taxa, including bees (Walther-Hellwig andFrankl 2000, Greenleaf et al 2007), bats (Rainho and Palmeirim 2011), colonial nesting waterbirds (Bryan et al 2012), and migratory waterfowl Afton 1996, Guillemain et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Foraging flight distances of wintering ducks and geese: a review

Johnson¹,

Schmidt²,

Taylor³

2014

ACE

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ABSTRACT. The distance covered by foraging animals, especially those that radiate from a central area when foraging, may affect ecosystem, community, and population dynamics, and has conservation and landscape planning implications for multiple taxa, including migratory waterfowl. Migrating and wintering waterfowl make regular foraging flights between roosting and feeding areas that can greatly impact energetic resources within the foraging zone near roost sites. We reviewed published studies and gray literature for oneway foraging flight distances (FFDs) of migrating and wintering dabbling ducks and geese. Thirty reviewed studies reported FFDs and several reported values for multiple species or locations. We obtained FFD values for migration (n = 7) and winter (n = 70). We evaluated the effects of body mass, guild, i.e., dabbling duck or goose, and location, i.e., Nearctic or Palearctic, on FFDs. We used the second-order Akaike's Information Criterion for model selection. We found support for effects of location and guild on FFDs. FFDs of waterfowl wintering in the Nearctic (7.4 ± 6.7 km, mean ± SD; n = 39 values) were longer than in the Palearctic (4.2 ± 3.2 km; n = 31 values). The FFDs of geese (7.8 ± 7.2 km, mean ± SD; n = 24 values) were longer than FFDs of dabbling ducks (5.1 ± 4.4 km, mean ± SD; n = 46 values). We found mixed evidence that distance flown from the roost changed, i.e., increased or decreased, seasonally. Our results can be used to refine estimates of energetic carrying capacity around roosts and in biological and landscape planning efforts.Distances parcourues pour la recherche alimentaire par les oies et les canards hivernants : une synthèse.RÉSUMÉ. La distance parcourue par les animaux aux fins de recherche alimentaire, particulièrement chez ceux qui rayonnent à partir d'un point central, peut influencer l'écosystème, la biocénose, ainsi que les dynamiques de population. Pour beaucoup de taxons incluant les anatidés migrants, la distance parcourue a également des implications sur la conservation et la planification des paysages. Les vols réguliers des anatidés (migrants ou hivernants) entre l'espace de nourrissage et de repos, peuvent impacter lourdement les ressources énergétiques au sein de la zone de nourrissage proche des sites de repos. Nous avons examiné les études et la littérature grise concernant les distances des allés vers les sites de nourrissage (DASN) des barboteurs et des oies migrants et hivernants. Trente études examinées ont indiqué les DASN dont un certain nombre ont mentionné des valeurs pour plusieurs espèces ou lieux. Nous avons obtenu des valeurs de DASN pour la migration (n=7) et pour l'hiver (n=70). Nous avons évalué les effets de la masse corporelle, guilde, i.e., barboteur ou oie, et lieu, i.e., Néarctique ou Paléarctique, sur les DASN. Nous avons utilisé comme modèle de sélection le Critère d'Information d'Akaike de second ordre. Nous avons trouvé des effets de lieu et guilde sur les DASN. Les DASN des anatidés hivernant dans le Néarctique (7.4 ± 6.7km, moyenne...

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A large-scale multi-species spatial depletion model for overwintering waterfowl

Abstract: 1In this paper, we develop a model to evaluate the capacity of accommodation areas for 2 overwintering waterfowl, at a large spatial scale. Each day geese are distributed over roosting sites.

Cited by 25 publications

References 58 publications

Northward range expansion in spring‐staging barnacle geese is a response to climate change and population growth, mediated by individual experience

Northward range expansion in spring‐staging barnacle geese is a response to climate change and population growth, mediated by individual experience

Shooting may aggravate rather than alleviate conflicts between migratory geese and agriculture

Foraging flight distances of wintering ducks and geese: a review

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