scholarly journals Site selection by geese in a suburban landscape

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quentin J Groom ◽  
Tim Adriaens ◽  
Claire Colsoulle ◽  
Pauline Delhez ◽  
Iris Van Der Beeten
Keyword(s):  
Canada Geese ◽  
Anser Anser ◽  
Large Herbivores ◽  
Landscape Modification ◽  
Northern European ◽  
Effective Deterrent ◽  
Barnacle Geese ◽  
Greylag Geese ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
American Cities

Background In northern European and North American cities geese are one of the commonest and most visible large herbivores that inhabit the suburban environment . As such, their presence and behavior often conflicts with the desires of the human residents. Fouling, noise, aggression and health concerns are all cited as reasons that there are “too many”. Lethal control is often used for control, however, this raises questions about whether this is a sustainable strategy to resolve the conflict between humans and geese, when paradoxically, it is humans that are responsible for creating the habitat and often providing the food and protection of geese at other times. We hypothesis that the landscaping of suburban parks can be improved to decrease its attractiveness to geese and to reduce the opportunity for conflict between geese and humans. Methods. Using observations collected over five years from a botanic garden situated in suburban Belgium and data from the whole of Flanders in Belgium we examine landscape features that attract geese, including the presence of islands in lakes, the distance from water, barriers to level flight and the size of grazing areas. The birds studied were the tadornine goose Alopochen aegyptiaca (L. 1766) (Egyptian geese) and the anserine geese, Branta canadensis (L. 1758) (Canada geese), Anser anser (L. 1758) (greylag geese) and Branta leucopsis (Bechstein, 1803) (barnacle geese). Landscape modification is a known method for modifying geese behavior, but there is little information on the power of such methods with which to inform managers and planners. Results. Our results demonstrate that lakes with islands attract more than twice as many anserine geese, than lakes without island, but make little difference to Egyptian geese. Furthermore, flight barriers between grazing areas and lakes are an effective deterrent to geese using an area for feeding. Keeping grazing areas small and surrounded by trees reduces their attractiveness to geese. Conclusion. The results suggest that landscape design can be used successfully to reduce the number of geese and their conflict with humans. However, this approach has its limitations and would require humans to compromise on what they expect from their landscaped parks, such as open vistas, lakes and closely cropped lawns.

scholarly journals Site selection by geese in a suburban landscape

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quentin J Groom ◽  
Tim Adriaens ◽  
Pauline Delhez ◽  
Iris Van Der Beeten
Keyword(s):  
Canada Geese ◽  
Anser Anser ◽  
Large Herbivores ◽  
Landscape Modification ◽  
Northern European ◽  
Effective Deterrent ◽  
Barnacle Geese ◽  
Greylag Geese ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
American Cities

Background In northern European and North American cities geese are one of the commonest and most visible large herbivores that inhabit the suburban environment . As such, their presence and behavior often conflicts with the desires of the human residents. Fouling, noise, aggression and health concerns are all cited as reasons that there are “too many”. Lethal control is often used for control, however, this raises questions about whether this is a sustainable strategy to resolve the conflict between humans and geese, when paradoxically, it is humans that are responsible for creating the habitat and often providing the food and protection of geese at other times. We hypothesis that the landscaping of suburban parks can be improved to decrease its attractiveness to geese and to reduce the opportunity for conflict between geese and humans. Methods. Using observations collected over five years from a botanic garden situated in suburban Belgium and data from the whole of Flanders in Belgium we examine landscape features that attract geese, including the presence of islands in lakes, the distance from water, barriers to level flight and the size of grazing areas. The birds studied were the tadornine goose Alopochen aegyptiaca (L. 1766) (Egyptian geese) and the anserine geese, Branta canadensis (L. 1758) (Canada geese), Anser anser (L. 1758) (greylag geese) and Branta leucopsis (Bechstein, 1803) (barnacle geese). Landscape modification is a known method for modifying geese behavior, but there is little information on the power of such methods with which to inform managers and planners. Results. Our results demonstrate that lakes with islands attract more than twice as many anserine geese, than lakes without island, but make little difference to Egyptian geese. Furthermore, flight barriers between grazing areas and lakes are an effective deterrent to geese using an area for feeding. Keeping grazing areas small and surrounded by trees reduces their attractiveness to geese. Conclusion. The results suggest that landscape design can be used successfully to reduce the number of geese and their conflict with humans. However, this approach has its limitations and would require humans to compromise on what they expect from their landscaped parks, such as open vistas, lakes and closely cropped lawns.

scholarly journals Site selection by geese in a suburban landscape

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quentin J Groom ◽  
Tim Adriaens ◽  
Claire Colsoulle ◽  
Pauline Delhez ◽  
Iris Van Der Beeten
Keyword(s):  
Canada Geese ◽  
Anser Anser ◽  
Large Herbivores ◽  
Landscape Modification ◽  
Northern European ◽  
Effective Deterrent ◽  
Barnacle Geese ◽  
Greylag Geese ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
American Cities

Background In northern European and North American cities geese are one of the commonest and most visible large herbivores that inhabit the suburban environment . As such, their presence and behavior often conflicts with the desires of the human residents. Fouling, noise, aggression and health concerns are all cited as reasons that there are “too many”. Lethal control is often used for control, however, this raises questions about whether this is a sustainable strategy to resolve the conflict between humans and geese, when paradoxically, it is humans that are responsible for creating the habitat and often providing the food and protection of geese at other times. We hypothesis that the landscaping of suburban parks can be improved to decrease its attractiveness to geese and to reduce the opportunity for conflict between geese and humans. Methods. Using observations collected over five years from a botanic garden situated in suburban Belgium and data from the whole of Flanders in Belgium we examine landscape features that attract geese, including the presence of islands in lakes, the distance from water, barriers to level flight and the size of grazing areas. The birds studied were the tadornine goose Alopochen aegyptiaca (L. 1766) (Egyptian geese) and the anserine geese, Branta canadensis (L. 1758) (Canada geese), Anser anser (L. 1758) (greylag geese) and Branta leucopsis (Bechstein, 1803) (barnacle geese). Landscape modification is a known method for modifying geese behavior, but there is little information on the power of such methods with which to inform managers and planners. Results. Our results demonstrate that lakes with islands attract more than twice as many anserine geese, than lakes without island, but make little difference to Egyptian geese. Furthermore, flight barriers between grazing areas and lakes are an effective deterrent to geese using an area for feeding. Keeping grazing areas small and surrounded by trees reduces their attractiveness to geese. Conclusion. The results suggest that landscape design can be used successfully to reduce the number of geese and their conflict with humans. However, this approach has its limitations and would require humans to compromise on what they expect from their landscaped parks, such as open vistas, lakes and closely cropped lawns.

scholarly journals Site selection by geese in a suburban landscape

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e9846
Author(s):  
Quentin J. Groom ◽  
Tim Adriaens ◽  
Claire Colsoulle ◽  
Pauline Delhez ◽  
Iris Van der Beeten
Keyword(s):  
Botanic Garden ◽  
Anser Anser ◽  
Barnacle Goose ◽  
Large Herbivores ◽  
Landscape Modification ◽  
Greylag Goose ◽  
Effective Deterrent ◽  
American Cities ◽  
Suburban Landscape ◽  
Egyptian Goose

Background In European and North American cities geese are among the most common and most visible large herbivores. As such, their presence and behaviour often conflict with the desires of the human residents. Fouling, noise, aggression and health concerns are all cited as reasons that there are “too many”. Lethal control is often used for population management; however, this raises questions about whether this is a sustainable strategy to resolve the conflict between humans and geese when, paradoxically, it is humans that are responsible for creating the habitat and often providing the food and protection of geese at other times. We hypothesise that the landscaping of suburban parks can be improved to decrease its attractiveness to geese and to reduce the opportunity for conflict between geese and humans. Methods Using observations collected over five years from a botanic garden situated in suburban Belgium and data from the whole of Flanders in Belgium, we examined landscape features that attract geese. These included the presence of islands in lakes, the distance from water, barriers to level flight and the size of exploited areas. The birds studied were the tadornine goose Alopochen aegyptiaca (L. 1766) (Egyptian goose) and the anserine geese, Branta canadensis (L. 1758) (Canada goose), Anser anser (L. 1758) (greylag goose) and Branta leucopsis (Bechstein, 1803) (barnacle goose). Landscape modification is a known method for altering goose behaviour, but there is little information on the power of such methods with which to inform managers and planners. Results Our results demonstrate that lakes with islands attract more than twice as many anserine geese than lakes without islands, but make little difference to Egyptian geese. Furthermore, flight barriers between grazing areas and lakes are an effective deterrent to geese using an area for feeding. Keeping grazing areas small and surrounded by trees reduces their attractiveness to geese. Conclusion The results suggest that landscape design can be used successfully to reduce the number of geese and their conflict with humans. However, this approach has its limitations and would require humans to compromise on what they expect from their landscaped parks, such as open vistas, lakes, islands and closely cropped lawns.

scholarly journals Censuses of autumn staging and wintering goose populations in Sweden 1977/1978–2011/2012

Ornis Svecica ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-60
Author(s):  
Leif Nilsson ◽  
Hakon Kampe-Persson
Keyword(s):  
Sugar Beet ◽  
Canada Geese ◽  
Anser Anser ◽  
Winter Cereals ◽  
South Sweden ◽  
Important Field ◽  
Barnacle Geese ◽  
Greylag Geese ◽  
Anser Fabalis ◽  
Autumn And Winter

Field choice was recorded during counts of geese in South-west Scania, South Sweden in autumn (October and November) and in winter (January), 1977/1978–2011/2012. Sugar beet spill was the most important field type in autumn and during the last ten years also in winter. Bean Geese Anser fabalis used this food source when the study started while Canada Geese Branta canadensis, Greylag Geese Anser anser, White-fronted Geese Anser albifrons and Barnacle Geese Branta leucopsis followed during the years 1987–2001. Potatoes were mainly used when fields with sugar beet spill were unavailable. Cereal stubbles were mainly used in autumn and to a quite low extent. Winter cereals were heavily used by most species in both autumn and winter during the first 15 years but less so thereafter. Grasslands were mainly used in winter, to a large extent by White-fronted Geese and to a quite high extent by Bean Geese and Barnacle Geese. The total use of oilseed rape was low, mainly by Canada Geese that utilised fields with no-till when the ground was snow-covered.

scholarly journals A white feathered area on the forehead is more common in hybrids of Greylag Goose Anser anser and Greater Canada Goose Branta canadensis than in the parent species

Ornis Svecica ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-44
Author(s):  
C G Gustavsson
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Comparison ◽  
Branta Canadensis ◽  
Canada Goose ◽  
Canada Geese ◽  
Parent Species ◽  
Anser Anser ◽  
White Area ◽  
Greylag Goose ◽  
Greylag Geese

This study evaluated prevalence and extent of white areas on heads of Greylag Goose × Greater Canada Goose hybrids. A white area which bordered the bill and then to various degrees extended over the forehead was found in 17 out of 20 hybrids. This was significantly more common in the hybrids than in the parent species. The white areas in the hybrids were also significantly larger than in those 82 out of 191 adult Greylag Geese which had some amount of white area. There were too few Greater Canada Geese with a white area outside the normal pale cheek patch to make a meaningful similar quantitative comparison also with them. No white area was seen in the three presumed 1st Calendar Year (CY) hybrids but when two of them were seen again in September of the 2nd CY there were some pale feathers that were interpreted as the beginning of white areas. The white areas in hybrids are therefore regarded to be adult features which like in several pure Anser species begin to develop during the 2nd CY.

scholarly journals Field choice of autumn staging and wintering geese in southwestern Sweden 1977/1978–2011/2012

Ornis Svecica ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-45
Author(s):  
Leif Nilsson
Keyword(s):  
Canada Geese ◽  
Anser Anser ◽  
Swedish Population ◽  
Barnacle Goose ◽  
Anser Albifrons ◽  
Bean Goose ◽  
Greylag Geese ◽  
Anser Fabalis ◽  
New Tradition ◽  
Made In

Goose counts have been made in September, October, November and January since September 1977. Staging Greylag Geese Anser anser increased from 19,000 in 1984 to 250,000 in 2008–2010, mainly due to a corresponding population growth, and a wintering tradition was established with a maximum of 50,000 in 2008. Staging and wintering White-fronted Geese Anser albifrons increased from less than 3,000 to up to 40,000 and 25,000, respectively, due to a northward shift of the sites. Wintering Canada Geese Branta canadensis increased from less than 10,000 to a peak of 70,000 in 2009–2010, mainly an effect of the growing Swedish population. Staging of the Barnacle Goose Branta leucopsis is a new tradition established in autumn 2,000, with no less than 150,000 in 2011. Sweden is the autumn staging area for almost the entire Taiga Bean Goose Anser fabalis fabalis population that has decreased in recent years. During the same period Tundra Bean Geese A. f. rossicus have started to stage in larger numbers, the overall counts of Bean Geese giving an impression of stability in recent years.

scholarly journals Testing Common Knowledge: Are Northern Europeans and Millennials More Concerned about the Environment?

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 45
Author(s):  
Cristina Gómez-Román ◽  
Maria Luisa Lima ◽  
Gloria Seoane ◽  
Mónica Alzate ◽  
Marcos Dono ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Generation X ◽  
Common Knowledge ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Common Belief ◽  
Environmentally Conscious ◽  
Personal Norms ◽  
Northern European ◽  
Using Data ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
North And South

This study explores whether there are differences in several environmental dimensions, when the European Region and Generation cohort are considered. In doing so, this study compares millennials in North and South Europe with members of Generation X in three environmental dimensions: attitudes, personal norms, and behavior. Using data from the European Social Survey (n = 6.216), the researchers tested the hypothesis that Northern Europeans and millennials have more pro-environmental standing than southerners and Generation Xers. The findings challenge the common belief that millennials are more committed to being environmentally conscious, showing that many millennials do not feel responsible for their climate footprint, nor do they behave in a way that shows more concern than previous generations to improve their environmental performance. Furthermore, contrary to expectations, Northern European participants are not the most committed, in all environmental dimensions, compared to Southern Europeans.

scholarly journals From individual to population level: Temperature and snow cover modulate fledging success through breeding phenology in greylag geese (Anser anser)

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Didone Frigerio ◽  
Petra Sumasgutner ◽  
Kurt Kotrschal ◽  
Sonia Kleindorfer ◽  
Josef Hemetsberger
Keyword(s):  
Ambient Temperature ◽  
Reproductive Output ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Breeding Phenology ◽  
Anser Anser ◽  
Fledging Success ◽  
Average Annual Temperature ◽  
Greylag Geese

AbstractLocal weather conditions may be used as environmental cues by animals to optimize their breeding behaviour, and could be affected by climate change. We measured associations between climate, breeding phenology, and reproductive output in greylag geese (Anser anser) across 29 years (1990–2018). The birds are individually marked, which allows accurate long-term monitoring of life-history parameters for all pairs within the flock. We had three aims: (1) identify climate patterns at a local scale in Upper Austria, (2) measure the association between climate and greylag goose breeding phenology, and (3) measure the relationship between climate and both clutch size and fledging success. Ambient temperature increased 2 °C across the 29-years study period, and higher winter temperature was associated with earlier onset of egg-laying. Using the hatch-fledge ratio, average annual temperature was the strongest predictor for the proportion of fledged goslings per season. There is evidence for an optimum time window for egg-laying (the earliest and latest eggs laid had the lowest fledging success). These findings broaden our understanding of environmental effects and population-level shifts which could be associated with increased ambient temperature and can thus inform future research about the ecological consequences of climate changes and reproductive output in avian systems.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document