Long-distance and local movements of greylag geese in present-day agricultural landscapes

• Recent changes in environmental conditions together with increasing goose populations have completely changed the ballgame for geese in Europe. To better understand their current distribution and foraging patterns, this project will explore how geese utilize the agricultural landscape, with focus on their movements, field selection and foraging patterns. We fitted 199 Greylag geese with neck-collars and 64 with GPS transmitters at 5 locations in Sweden. The tagged geese will be used for studying movement patterns at a field-tofield level. However, the GPS transmitters also deliver data that can be used together with re-sightnings of neck-collared geese to unravel large-scale movement patterns of the Swedish Greylag goose population. Preliminary results from GPS positions received June--November 2017 indicate a varation in migration patterns and wintering grounds, depending on the origin of the geese. Geese breeding and molting in the southern parts of Sweden seem to migrate shorter distances, and have spent most of their time during the autumn months in Denmark, or in the southernmost parts of Sweden, while the geese marked farther north migrated earlier and moved longer distances, with the majority spending the autumn in Germany and the Netherlands.

Ämnesord

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Ecology (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologiska vetenskaper -- Ekologi (hsv//swe)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Anser anser

GPS transmitters

migration distance and timing

neck collar

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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