Wintering Geese Trade-Off Energetic Gains and Costs When Switching from Agricultural to Natural Habitats

Pot, Morrison T.; Koning, Susan de; Westerduin, Coen; Boer, W.F. de; Najafabadi, Mitra Shariati; Lameris, Thomas K.

doi:10.5253/arde.v107i2.a6

Cited by 10 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 53 publications

(71 reference statements)

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“…This is also supported by differences that we find in foraging duration between agricultural and natural habitats. In the course of spring, many barnacle geese switch from foraging in agricultural habitats to natural habitats, such as salt marshes ( Pot et al 2019 ). Historically, this habitat switch occurred at the moment that food quality in natural habitats equaled the food quality in agricultural habitats ( Prins and Ydenberg 1985 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Historically, this habitat switch occurred at the moment that food quality in natural habitats equaled the food quality in agricultural habitats ( Prins and Ydenberg 1985 ). Currently, food quality in natural habitats is consistently lower than in agricultural habitats ( Eichhorn et al 2012 ; Pot et al 2019 ), and barnacle geese respond by increasing their foraging duration in natural habitats ( Pot et al 2019 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Especially, during spring when forage plant quality peaks, daytime foraging may be much more profitable compared to nighttime foraging, especially in diverse and heterogeneous natural habitats. It may matter less during winter, when forage plants generally are low in quality and geese may be less selective, and in homogeneous pasture monocultures, where tillers are generally of the same, high quality ( Fox and Abraham 2017 ; Pot et al 2019 ). Nevertheless, even in pastures, there may exist differences in the quality of patches ( Bos et al 2005 ), which could render nighttime foraging less profitable.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In May, the population breeding in the Barents Sea region migrates northward from wintering grounds along the North and Wadden Sea coast using staging grounds in the Baltic Sea, the White Sea, Kanin peninsula, and the Barents Sea ( Eichhorn et al 2006 ). Foraging habitat in the wintering area (the Netherlands and Germany) consists of both manmade, agricultural pastures and natural habitats, mostly higher salt marshes as well as fresh-water marshes ( Stahl et al 2002 ; van der Graaf et al 2006 ; Pot et al 2019 ). In early spring, geese start to fuel energy reserves for migration, departing on spring migration in mid-May ( Eichhorn et al 2009 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To correct for differences between years, we calculated linear regressions between I and growing degree days (GDD; Lameris et al 2017 ). As metabolizable energy intake can differ strongly between natural and agricultural foraging habitats ( Dokter et al 2018 ; Pot et al 2019 ), regressions for both habitats were determined separately ( Supplementary Figure S1 ). From these regressions, we predicted habitat-specific potential metabolizable energy intake rate (PI) for tagged geese foraging in either of these habitats based on local GDD.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Nocturnal foraging lifts time constraints in winter for migratory geese but hardly speeds up fueling

et al. 2021

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Climate warming advances the optimal timing of breeding for many animals. For migrants to start breeding earlier, a concurrent advancement of migration is required, including premigratory fueling of energy reserves. We investigate whether barnacle geese are time constrained during premigratory fueling and whether there is potential to advance or shorten the fueling period to allow an earlier migratory departure. We equipped barnacle geese with GPS trackers and accelerometers to remotely record birds’ behavior, from which we calculated time budgets. We examined how time spent foraging was affected by the available time (during daylight and moonlit nights) and thermoregulation costs. We used an energetic model to assess onset and rates of fueling and whether geese can further advance fueling by extending foraging time. We show that, during winter, when facing higher thermoregulation costs, geese consistently foraged at night, especially during moonlit nights, in order to balance their energy budgets. In spring, birds made use of the increasing day length and gained body stores by foraging longer during the day, but birds stopped foraging extensively during the night. Our model indicates that, by continuing nighttime foraging throughout spring, geese may have some leeway to advance and increase fueling rate, potentially reaching departure body mass 4 days earlier. In light of rapid climatic changes on the breeding grounds, whether this advancement can be realized and whether it will be sufficient to prevent phenological mismatches remains to be determined.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Nocturnal foraging lifts time constraints in winter for migratory geese but hardly speeds up fueling

et al. 2021

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Barnacle geese Branta leucopsis breeding on Novaya Zemlya: current distribution and population size estimated from tracking data

et al. 2022

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The Russian breeding population of barnacle geese Branta leucopsis has shown a rapid increase in numbers since 1980, which has coincided with a southwest-wards breeding range expansion within the Russian Arctic. Here barnacle geese also started to occupy coastal and marsh land habitats, in which they were not know to nest on their traditional breeding grounds. While these changes have been well documented by studies and observations throughout the new breeding range of barnacle geese, observations are lacking from the traditional breeding grounds on Novaya Zemlya, as this area is remote and difficult to access. This is especially relevant given rapid climate warming in this area, which may impact local distribution and population size. We used GPS-tracking and behavioural biologging data from 46 individual barnacle geese captured on their wintering grounds to locate nest sites in the Russian Arctic and study nesting distribution in 2008–2010 and 2018–2020. Extrapolating from nest counts on Kolguev Island, we estimate the breeding population on Novaya Zemlya in 2018–2020 to range around 75,250 pairs although the confidence interval around this estimate was large. A comparison with the historical size of the barnacle goose population suggests an increase in the breeding population on Novaya Zemlya, corresponding with changes in other areas of the breeding range. Our results show that many barnacle geese on Novaya Zemlya currently nest on lowland tundra on Gusinaya Zemlya Peninsula. This region has been occupied by barnacle geese only since 1990 and appears to be mainly available for nesting in years with early spring. Tracking data are a valuable tool to increase our knowledge of remote locations, but counts of breeding individuals or nests are needed to further corroborate estimates of breeding populations based on tracking data.

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Year-round activity levels reveal diurnal foraging constraints in the annual cycle of migratory and non-migratory barnacle geese

et al. 2023

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Performing migratory journeys comes with energetic costs, which have to be compensated within the annual cycle. An assessment of how and when such compensation occurs is ideally done by comparing full annual cycles of migratory and non-migratory individuals of the same species, which is rarely achieved. We studied free-living migratory and resident barnacle geese belonging to the same flyway (metapopulation), and investigated when differences in foraging activity occur, and when foraging extends beyond available daylight, indicating a diurnal foraging constraint in these usually diurnal animals. We compared foraging activity of migratory (N = 94) and resident (N = 30) geese throughout the annual cycle using GPS-transmitters and 3D-accelerometers, and corroborated this with data on seasonal variation in body condition. Migratory geese were more active than residents during most of the year, amounting to a difference of over 370 h over an entire annual cycle. Activity differences were largest during the periods that comprised preparation for spring and autumn migration. Lengthening days during spring facilitated increased activity, which coincided with an increase in body condition. Both migratory and resident geese were active at night during winter, but migratory geese were also active at night before autumn migration, resulting in a period of night-time activity that was 6 weeks longer than in resident geese. Our results indicate that, at least in geese, seasonal migration requires longer daily activity not only during migration but throughout most of the annual cycle, with migrants being more frequently forced to extend foraging activity into the night.

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Wintering Geese Trade-Off Energetic Gains and Costs When Switching from Agricultural to Natural Habitats

Cited by 10 publications

References 53 publications

Nocturnal foraging lifts time constraints in winter for migratory geese but hardly speeds up fueling

Nocturnal foraging lifts time constraints in winter for migratory geese but hardly speeds up fueling

Barnacle geese Branta leucopsis breeding on Novaya Zemlya: current distribution and population size estimated from tracking data

Year-round activity levels reveal diurnal foraging constraints in the annual cycle of migratory and non-migratory barnacle geese

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