Snow cover and snow goose Anser caerulescens caerulescens distribution during spring migration
Arctic geese often use spring migration stopover areas when feeding habitats are partially snow covered. Melting of snow during the stopover period causes spatial and temporal variability in distribution and abundance of feeding habitat. We recorded changes in snow cover and lesser snow goose Anser...
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crwiley:10.2981/wlb.2001.010 2023-12-03T10:18:29+01:00 Snow cover and snow goose Anser caerulescens caerulescens distribution during spring migration Hupp, Jerry W. Zacheis, Amy B. Anthony, R. Michael Robertson, Donna G. Erickson, Wallace P. Palacios, Kelly C. U.S. Geological Survey 2001 http://dx.doi.org/10.2981/wlb.2001.010 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.2981/wlb.2001.010 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.2981/wlb.2001.010 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Wildlife Biology volume 7, issue 2, page 65-76 ISSN 1903-220X 1903-220X Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law Nature and Landscape Conservation Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics journal-article 2001 crwiley https://doi.org/10.2981/wlb.2001.010 2023-11-09T13:50:45Z Arctic geese often use spring migration stopover areas when feeding habitats are partially snow covered. Melting of snow during the stopover period causes spatial and temporal variability in distribution and abundance of feeding habitat. We recorded changes in snow cover and lesser snow goose Anser caerulescens caerulescens distribution on a spring migration stopover area in south‐central Alaska during aerial surveys in 1993–1994. Our objectives were to determine whether geese selected among areas with different amounts of snow cover and to assess how temporal changes in snow cover affected goose distribution. We also measured temporal changes in chemical composition of forage species after snow melt. We divided an Arc/Info coverage of the approximately 210 km 2 coastal stopover area into 2‐km 2 cells, and measured snow cover and snow goose use of cells. Cells that had 10–49.9% snow cover were selected by snow geese, whereas cells that lacked snow cover were avoided. In both years, snow cover diminished along the coast between mid‐April and early May. Flock distribution changed as snow geese abandoned snow‐free areas in favour of cells where snow patches were interspersed with bare ground. Snow‐free areas may have been less attractive to geese because available forage had been quickly exploited as bare ground was exposed, and because soils became drier making extraction of underground forage more difficult. Fiber content of two forage species increased whereas non‐structural carbohydrate concentrations of forage plants appeared to diminish after snow melt, but changes in nutrient concentrations likely occurred too slowly to account for abandonment of snow‐free areas by snow geese. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Alaska Wiley Online Library (via Crossref) Arctic Wildlife Biology 7 2 65 76 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Wiley Online Library (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crwiley |
language |
English |
topic |
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law Nature and Landscape Conservation Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
spellingShingle |
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law Nature and Landscape Conservation Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Hupp, Jerry W. Zacheis, Amy B. Anthony, R. Michael Robertson, Donna G. Erickson, Wallace P. Palacios, Kelly C. Snow cover and snow goose Anser caerulescens caerulescens distribution during spring migration |
topic_facet |
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law Nature and Landscape Conservation Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
description |
Arctic geese often use spring migration stopover areas when feeding habitats are partially snow covered. Melting of snow during the stopover period causes spatial and temporal variability in distribution and abundance of feeding habitat. We recorded changes in snow cover and lesser snow goose Anser caerulescens caerulescens distribution on a spring migration stopover area in south‐central Alaska during aerial surveys in 1993–1994. Our objectives were to determine whether geese selected among areas with different amounts of snow cover and to assess how temporal changes in snow cover affected goose distribution. We also measured temporal changes in chemical composition of forage species after snow melt. We divided an Arc/Info coverage of the approximately 210 km 2 coastal stopover area into 2‐km 2 cells, and measured snow cover and snow goose use of cells. Cells that had 10–49.9% snow cover were selected by snow geese, whereas cells that lacked snow cover were avoided. In both years, snow cover diminished along the coast between mid‐April and early May. Flock distribution changed as snow geese abandoned snow‐free areas in favour of cells where snow patches were interspersed with bare ground. Snow‐free areas may have been less attractive to geese because available forage had been quickly exploited as bare ground was exposed, and because soils became drier making extraction of underground forage more difficult. Fiber content of two forage species increased whereas non‐structural carbohydrate concentrations of forage plants appeared to diminish after snow melt, but changes in nutrient concentrations likely occurred too slowly to account for abandonment of snow‐free areas by snow geese. |
author2 |
U.S. Geological Survey |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hupp, Jerry W. Zacheis, Amy B. Anthony, R. Michael Robertson, Donna G. Erickson, Wallace P. Palacios, Kelly C. |
author_facet |
Hupp, Jerry W. Zacheis, Amy B. Anthony, R. Michael Robertson, Donna G. Erickson, Wallace P. Palacios, Kelly C. |
author_sort |
Hupp, Jerry W. |
title |
Snow cover and snow goose Anser caerulescens caerulescens distribution during spring migration |
title_short |
Snow cover and snow goose Anser caerulescens caerulescens distribution during spring migration |
title_full |
Snow cover and snow goose Anser caerulescens caerulescens distribution during spring migration |
title_fullStr |
Snow cover and snow goose Anser caerulescens caerulescens distribution during spring migration |
title_full_unstemmed |
Snow cover and snow goose Anser caerulescens caerulescens distribution during spring migration |
title_sort |
snow cover and snow goose anser caerulescens caerulescens distribution during spring migration |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2001 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.2981/wlb.2001.010 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.2981/wlb.2001.010 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.2981/wlb.2001.010 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Alaska |
op_source |
Wildlife Biology volume 7, issue 2, page 65-76 ISSN 1903-220X 1903-220X |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.2981/wlb.2001.010 |
container_title |
Wildlife Biology |
container_volume |
7 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
65 |
op_container_end_page |
76 |
_version_ |
1784265481679536128 |