Research article - Peer-reviewed, 2021
Learning from long time series of harvest and population data: Swedish lessons for European goose management
Liljeback, Niklas; Bergqvist, Goran; Elmberg, Johan; Haas, Fredrik; Nilsson, Leif; Lindstrom, Ake; Mansson, JohanAbstract
Goose management in Europe is faced by multiple challenges, as some species are declining and in need of conservation actions, while other populations have become very abundant, resulting in calls for increased harvest. Sweden has long-term series of harvest data and counts of breeding and autumn-staging geese. We used national data (indices) for greylag goose, bean goose and Canada goose to study shifts in temporal trends and correlative patterns, and to infer possible causal links between harvest and population trends. Our study provides an opportunity to guide management given the data collected within the present monitoring, as well as to suggest improvements for future data collection. The populations of greylag and Canada geese increased in Sweden 1979-2018, but this long-term trend included a recent decrease in the latter species. Bean goose breeding index decreased, whilst staging numbers and harvest varied with no clear long-term trend. For Canada goose, our analysis suggests that harvest may affect population growth negatively. For bean goose and greylag goose we could not detect any effect of harvest on autumn counts the following year. We find that the present data and analysis of coherence may suffice as basis for decisions for the current management situation in Sweden with its rather unspecific goals for greylag (very abundant) and Canada goose (invasive species) populations. However, for management of bean geese, with international concerns of over harvest, data lack crucial information. For future management challenges, with more explicit goals, for all goose species we advocate information that is more precise. Data such as hunting effort, age-structure of goose populations and mark-recapture data to estimate survival and population size, is needed to feed predictive population models guiding future Swedish and European goose management.Keywords
conservation; goose populations; harvest; management; monitoring programs; population trajectories; time seriesPublished in
Wildlife Biology2021, volume: 2021, number: 1, article number: wlb.00733
Publisher: WILDLIFE BIOLOGY
Authors' information
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Ecology
Bergqvist, Göran
Swedish Association for Hunting and Wildlife Management
Bergqvist, Göran
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre
Elmberg, Johan
Kristianstad University
Haas, Fredrik
Lund University
Nilsson, Leif
Lund University
Lindstrom, Ake
Lund University
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Ecology
UKÄ Subject classification
Fish and Wildlife Management
Publication Identifiers
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2981/wlb.00733
URI (permanent link to this page)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/113203