Long-term monitoring of breeding activity of Greater Snow Geese on Bylot Island, Nunavut

• Main Authors: Gauthier, Gilles, Cadieux, Marie-Christine, Centre D'études Nordiques
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Cryospheric Information Network 2015
• Subjects: Birds; Breeding colonies; Bylot Island; Greater snow geese; Nesting; Reproductive phenology; Reproductive success; ArcticNet Network of Centres of Excellence of Canada; Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program, Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna - Terrestrial; International Polar Year-Arctic Wildlife Observatories Linking Vulnerable EcoSystems; Arctic; Nunavut; Canada; ArcticNet; Circumpolar biodiversity monitoring program; Climate change; Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna; International Polar Year; Tundra
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5443/710; https://www.polardata.ca/pdcsearch/?doi_id=710

We are monitoring the nesting activity of Greater Snow Geese. We find nests through systematic searches of both fixed and random plots throughout the goose colony. Nests of other goose species are also monitored opportunistically. All nests found are positioned with a GPS and revisited several times to determine nesting density, laying date, clutch size, hatching date and nesting success. Young are marked with web tags at hatch. During brood-rearing, family size is determined periodically. Families are caught in mass banding drives before fledging and young are weighed and measured to assess their survival and growth. All captured birds are banded and females are marked with neck collars. We also monitor the nests of any other goose species found opportunistically in our study site. : Purpose: Many snow goose populations, including those nesting on Bylot Island, have increased considerably in the second half of the 20th century, with some of them surpassing the carrying capacity of their habitat and imposing considerable stress on their breeding habitat. In response to perceived threats to natural ecosystems due to overabundance of snow geese, the Canadian Wildlife Service implemented a spring conservation hunt for this population in Quebec in 1999 and the US Fish & Wildlife Service followed in the USA in 2009. It is therefore important to evaluate the impact of high goose abundance on the tundra ecosystem, as well as the effects of these exceptional management actions on the demography of the population. Climate change currently affecting the Arctic should have a strong impact on the population dynamic of wildlife species. Migratory birds may be especially vulnerable to those changes because, over their annual cycle, they move across ecosystems where the speed of climate change may be very different depending of the latitude. This may lead to situation where the timing of reproduction may no longer be optimal to new conditions prevailing on the breeding grounds. : Summary: Not Applicable