Vegetation characteristics of Snow Goose nest sites

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Botany
• Main Authors: Heagy, M. I., Cooke, F.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1979
• Subjects: Plant Science; Arctic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/b79-186; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/b79-186

The vegetation at a Lesser Snow Goose breeding colony was examined to determine if particular plant species or species associations were characteristic of the nest sites of the geese. A stepwise discriminant analysis revealed that nest sites could be satisfactorily distinguished from the ambient vegetation using 2 of the 29 plant species growing in the quadrats. These two species, lyme grass (Elymus arenarius ssp. mollis) and arctic daisy (Chrysanthemum arcticum ssp. polare) were strongly associated with Snow Goose nest sites.Possible explanations for the association are examined. It is suggested that rather than a cause and effect relationship between plants and nest sites, E. arenarius and C. arcticum have similar ecological requirements to those of the geese for a nesting site.