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 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

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.

Greylag Goose (Anser anser Linnaeus, 1758).

2020 ◽  
pp. 213-222
Author(s):  
Lorinda A. Hart ◽  
Colleen T. Downs
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Anser Anser ◽  
Greylag Goose

Abstract This chapter describes the taxonomic nomenclature, distribution, morphology, diet, reproduction, behaviour, habitats, pathways of invasion, environmental impact, control and relevance to humans of the greylag goose (Anser anser).

scholarly journals Serial agonistic attacks by greylag goose families, Anser anser, against the same opponent

2009 ◽  
Vol 77 (5) ◽  
pp. 1211-1216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabella B.R. Scheiber ◽  
Kurt Kotrschal ◽  
Brigitte M. Weiß
Keyword(s):  
Anser Anser ◽  
Greylag Goose

scholarly journals Conservation genetics of a resident population of Greylag Goose (Anser anser) at the southernmost limit of the species’ distribution in Europe

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasios Bounas ◽  
Giorgos Catsadorakis ◽  
Annita Logotheti ◽  
Berend Voslamber ◽  
Antonios Magoulas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Conservation Genetics ◽  
Species Distribution ◽  
Anser Anser ◽  
Resident Population ◽  
Greylag Goose ◽  
Distribution In Europe

scholarly journals Dramatic shifts in intestinal fungal community between wintering Hooded Crane and Domestic Goose

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xingjia Xiang ◽  
Lele Jin ◽  
Zhuqing Yang ◽  
Nazhong Zhang ◽  
Feng Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Community Structure ◽  
Fungal Community ◽  
Food Resource ◽  
Wild Birds ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Anser Anser ◽  
Fungal Community Structure ◽  
Hooded Crane ◽  
Intestinal Pathogens ◽  
Greylag Goose

Abstract Background The intestinal microbiota play remarkable roles in maintaining the health of their hosts. Recent studies focused on gut bacterial diversity in birds and poultry, with little information about the ecological functions of their gut fungal community. Methods The high-throughput sequencing was applied to compare intestinal fungal community structure between Hooded Crane (Grus monacha) and Domestic Goose (Anser anser domesticus), and infer the potential pathogens of each species at Shengjin Lake of China. Results Intestinal fungal alpha diversity was higher in Hooded Crane than Greylag Goose (Anser anser). Gut fungal community composition showed dramatic shifts between the two species. Hooded Cranes mainly eat Vallisneria natans and Potamogeton malaianus, while artificial hurl food (i.e., paddy) was the main food resource for Domestic Geese, suggesting that the variations in fungal community might be induced by different diets between the two hosts. Two enriched genera (i.e., Acremonium and Rhodotorula) which could increase host’s digestion were detected in guts of Hooded Cranes. In addition, there were 42 pathogenic amplicon sequence variants (ASVs), 17% of which shared in Hooded Crane and Greylag Goose. The Hooded Crane had higher gut fungal pathogenic diversity and abundance relative to Greylag Goose. Conclusions The study demonstrated that divergence in intestinal fungal community structure might be induced by different diets between wintering Hooded Crane and Domestic Goose. Hooded Crane might rely more on their gut fungal taxa to acquire nutrients from indigestible food resources. Our study also implied that more research should focus on intestinal pathogens in wild birds and domestic poultry, as they might increase risk of disease in other animals, even human beings. The degree of cross infection in pathogens among wild birds and sympatric poultry should be clearly verified in future study.

scholarly journals Adoption as a gosling strategy to obtain better parental care? Experimental evidence for gosling choice and age-dependency of adoption in greylag geese

Behaviour ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 142 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 1515-1533 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Komdeur ◽  
Ellen Kalmbach ◽  
Pascal van der Aa
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Individual Recognition ◽  
Alloparental Care ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Generational Conflict ◽  
Anser Anser ◽  
State Dependent ◽  
Greylag Goose ◽  
Large Brood ◽  
Greylag Geese

AbstractAdoptions of unrelated young by successful breeders are a form of alloparental care which has been observed in many species of geese. Depending on costs and benefits to the parents, adoptions might represent an inter-generational conflict or a mutually beneficial strategy. Although most studies of wild populations suggest benefits of large brood sizes, incidental observations mostly report aggressive behaviour of parents towards lone goslings. No studies have investigated mechanisms and behaviour during adoptions in order to test whether adoptions are driven by parents or goslings. To test whether goslings might use adoption as a strategy to obtain better parental care, we carried out an experiment where lone greylag goose (Anser anser) goslings could choose between a dominant and a subordinate foster family. In a second experiment we also tested whether adoption was age-dependent. Except for one case, all lone goslings (N = 16) chose the dominant family. Parents showed very little aggression towards lone goslings at three days after hatch, but aggression increased until 9 days and remained high thereafter. At the same time as aggression increased, the chance of successful adoption decreased. In the first five weeks of life, goslings which had been adopted were no further away from parents than original goslings during grazing. These results show that goslings might choose foster families according to dominance. The fact that with increasing gosling age parents are less willing to adopt could be due to improved individual recognition and reflect decreasing benefits of gaining an additional family member. More detailed studies on state-dependent costs and benefits of adoptions are required to determine whether adoptions in geese represent conflict or mutualism, and why this changes with gosling age.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document