Greylag geese (Anser anser) : crop selection and spatial distribution around Sörfjärden, Södermanland

A rapid population growth in Greylag geese (Anser anser) has led to a conflict between geese and farmers due to the foraging geese in agricultural fields which causes damage to crops by trampling and grazing. Culling cannot always be used as a management tool due to protection of the species and tem...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Tennfors, Carina
Formato: H2
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: SLU/Dept. of Ecology 2013
Materias:
_version_ 1855570986119725056
author Tennfors, Carina
author_browse Tennfors, Carina
author_facet Tennfors, Carina
author_sort Tennfors, Carina
collection Epsilon Archive for Student Projects
description A rapid population growth in Greylag geese (Anser anser) has led to a conflict between geese and farmers due to the foraging geese in agricultural fields which causes damage to crops by trampling and grazing. Culling cannot always be used as a management tool due to protection of the species and temporal restrictions of hunting seasons. Therefore, non-lethal methods such as different scaring techniques and alternative reserved feeding areas, i.e. accommodation fields, have been developed to try to push them away from agricultural fields and pull them to these reserved feeding areas. To enhance the non-lethal management, more knowledge was needed about the geese such as crop selection and distribution patterns e.g. the selection of fields in relation to distance to roost sites. In this study the geese crop selection was estimated by compositional analyses over a three year period (March-October in 2010-2012) around Sörfjärden, Sweden. Moreover, the distribution of geese in relation to distance to roost sites was studied. The compositional analysis showed that the geese selected the acommodation field and grassland more than expected for 2010 and 2011, but that wheat was the top ranked crop in 2012. However, the selection of the accomodation field and grassland was more pronounced during early summer and the selection of grass fields´ declined during late summer. The geese shifted to cereals such as wheat (Triticum spp.), barley (Hordeum vulgare) and pea (Pisum spp.) in late summer, probably because of higher availability due to the harvest and waist grains on the stubble fields. No significant results were found on geese distribution of distance to roost site, due to clumped distances to roost sites in the study area. In conclusion, accommodation fields are a good non-lethal method to ease the grazing pressure on agriculture fields especially during early summer in Sörfjärden.
format H2
id RepoSLU6291
institution Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
language Inglés
publishDate 2013
publishDateSort 2013
publisher SLU/Dept. of Ecology
publisherStr SLU/Dept. of Ecology
record_format eprints
spelling RepoSLU62912013-11-25T14:31:57Z Greylag geese (Anser anser) : crop selection and spatial distribution around Sörfjärden, Södermanland Grågäss (Anser anser) : grödoval och rumslig fördelning vid Sörfjärden, Södermanland Tennfors, Carina Anser anser accommodation field compositional analysis crop damage dietary preferences diversionary field Greylag geese wildlife conflict A rapid population growth in Greylag geese (Anser anser) has led to a conflict between geese and farmers due to the foraging geese in agricultural fields which causes damage to crops by trampling and grazing. Culling cannot always be used as a management tool due to protection of the species and temporal restrictions of hunting seasons. Therefore, non-lethal methods such as different scaring techniques and alternative reserved feeding areas, i.e. accommodation fields, have been developed to try to push them away from agricultural fields and pull them to these reserved feeding areas. To enhance the non-lethal management, more knowledge was needed about the geese such as crop selection and distribution patterns e.g. the selection of fields in relation to distance to roost sites. In this study the geese crop selection was estimated by compositional analyses over a three year period (March-October in 2010-2012) around Sörfjärden, Sweden. Moreover, the distribution of geese in relation to distance to roost sites was studied. The compositional analysis showed that the geese selected the acommodation field and grassland more than expected for 2010 and 2011, but that wheat was the top ranked crop in 2012. However, the selection of the accomodation field and grassland was more pronounced during early summer and the selection of grass fields´ declined during late summer. The geese shifted to cereals such as wheat (Triticum spp.), barley (Hordeum vulgare) and pea (Pisum spp.) in late summer, probably because of higher availability due to the harvest and waist grains on the stubble fields. No significant results were found on geese distribution of distance to roost site, due to clumped distances to roost sites in the study area. In conclusion, accommodation fields are a good non-lethal method to ease the grazing pressure on agriculture fields especially during early summer in Sörfjärden. SLU/Dept. of Ecology 2013 H2 eng https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/6291/
spellingShingle Anser anser
accommodation field
compositional analysis
crop damage
dietary preferences
diversionary field
Greylag geese
wildlife conflict
Tennfors, Carina
Greylag geese (Anser anser) : crop selection and spatial distribution around Sörfjärden, Södermanland
title Greylag geese (Anser anser) : crop selection and spatial distribution around Sörfjärden, Södermanland
title_full Greylag geese (Anser anser) : crop selection and spatial distribution around Sörfjärden, Södermanland
title_fullStr Greylag geese (Anser anser) : crop selection and spatial distribution around Sörfjärden, Södermanland
title_full_unstemmed Greylag geese (Anser anser) : crop selection and spatial distribution around Sörfjärden, Södermanland
title_short Greylag geese (Anser anser) : crop selection and spatial distribution around Sörfjärden, Södermanland
title_sort greylag geese (anser anser) : crop selection and spatial distribution around sörfjärden, södermanland
topic Anser anser
accommodation field
compositional analysis
crop damage
dietary preferences
diversionary field
Greylag geese
wildlife conflict