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Rain limits food supply of temperate breeding Barnacle Geese Branta leucopsis

Authors:
Ineke T. van der Veen
Ineke T. van der Veen
Henk van der Jeugd at Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW)
Henk van der Jeugd
Maarten J. J. E. Loonen at University of Groningen
Maarten J. J. E. Loonen
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Abstract

The effect of rain on growth rates of individually marked shoots of a preferred food plant, Festuca rubra, was studied in a temperate barnacle goose brood rearing area during three consecutive years. We found that grass growth declined to zero well before fledging of the goslings during dry years, and that rain had an immediate short-term positive effect on grass growth, especially towards the end of the growing season. Experimentally we found some indication that water is limiting grass growth towards the end of the season. Besides that, there might have been an additional effect of adding droppings. Thus, rain is an important factor influencing grass growth rates, which in turn influence both quantity and quality of food plants. We propose such an effect as the mechanism explaining effects of rain on important life history parameters that have been documented earlier for this barnacle goose population, as well as in other herbivores.
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66 RAIN LIMITS FOOD SUPPLY OF GEESE
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... Rainfall is considered to be one of the important drivers for animal population dynamics as it is closely related to resource availability (Georgiadis et al. 2007, Anderson et al. 2008, Lenhart et al. 2015. Rainfall influence grass growth rates and therefore quantity of grass (Van der Veen et al. 1999). Brent goose population size increased with increasing food availability as a result of higher rainfall (Ebbinge 1992). ...
Wild geese of the Yangtze River
Thesis
  • Jan 2016
Habitat selection is a process in which organisms decide to choose a suitable site for nesting, roosting or foraging. The question where the organisms are, and when they will leave are two of the fundamental questions frequently asked by ecologists. Habitat selection is affected by various abiotic and biotic determinants, varying over different spatial and temporal scales. In addition, an animal’s body size, determining its daily demands and its digestion capacity, plays an important role in foraging and habitat selection. This is because forage quality often decreases with increasing forage quantity. Therefore, herbivores often face a trade-off between forage quality and quantity. Although studies on habitat selection have offered substantial insights into the effect of various ecological factors, myriad effects of habitat and its’ surrounding are still not clearly understood, as former studies concerning this topic normally focus on a single species or a single spatial scale. Migrating goose species are herbivorous with more or less similar habitat requirements and hence often mix in the field. Studying habitat selection of different goose species is attractive as they are from the same guild but differ in body size. In this thesis, I study the effects of various variables on habitat selection of different Anatidae species over different spatial scales, answering the question how ecological and anthropogenic variables affect Anatidae species habitat selection and population sizes and if these effects vary over different spatial scales. First, I studied the habitat selection of Anatidae species under the condition with and without interference competition using an experimental approach in Chapter 2. To do this, I offered geese and ducks foraging patches with various swards heights. 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My results suggest that variation in peck rate over different swards height permits Anatidae herbivores to increase nitrogen intake under competition to compensate for the loss of intake, illustrating the importance of behavioural plasticity in heterogeneous environments when competing with other species for resources. In Chapter 3, using a correlative field study, I analysed the habitat selection of two differently sized grazing goose species at site level. I found that both species selected lower lying area where the swards became recently exposed, due to receding water levels. However, the smaller species was more sensitive to this elevation gradient. Moreover, sward height negatively affected both species habitat selection with a stronger effect on the smaller species. This result highlighted the importance of body size on facilitating species coexistence and habitat segregation. 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In summary, this thesis offers a framework for the effects of various variables on habitat selection and population sizes of herbivorous Anatidae species over different spatial scales, and a scientific basis for policy-makers and managers to enhance the efficiency of conservation actions in wetlands along the Yangtze River flood plain and also for similar ecological systems.
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... In HR, the infected cell undergoes a programmed cell death (PCD or apoptosis), which limits the reproduction and spread of the pathogen within the host tissue [36]. As a final level of defense, pathogenesis-related genes (PR-genes) are expressed such as chitinases, defensins or beta-1,3-glucanase, which work against pathogens in various ways [37]. ...
Current European Labyrinthula zosterae Are Not Virulent and Modulate Seagrass (Zostera marina) Defense Gene Expression
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Continuing growth of the Baltic barnacle goose population: Number of individuals and reproductive success in different colonies
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