The Greenland White-fronted Goose Anser albifrons flavirostris

expansion, they are likely to exert an ever greater
influence on the endemic Greenland Whitefronted
Geese which used to be the only herbivorous
waterbird in the region. Hence, inter-specific
competition on the breeding areas could play a
major role in the future population dynamics of
Greenland White-fronted Geese. As many of the
northern populations of geese continue to expand,
use novel habitats and exploit new areas, the potential
for competitive interactions increases. The
need for an understanding of such processes in
order to make predictions relating to the impacts
of these interactions at the population level makes
this particular study of broader ecological significance
in the future.
What is clear is that the ecological conditions experienced
by the geese will not remain constant
and the benefits of existing information relating
to population processes will offer some key to
understanding how Greenland White-fronted
Goose numbers will respond to change in the future.
The future changes in distribution and abundance
of this race of geese will not be any less
interesting to follow than those in the past.
2.7 Conclusions and discussion
The traditional patchy bogland wintering habitat
of the Greenland White-fronted Goose undoubtedly
constrained population size in a landscape
unchanged by Man’s activities. Exploitation
of this specific habitat is likely to have shaped
highly site faithful behaviour and influenced the
evolution of the prolonged parent-offspring relationships
which distinguishes this population
from most other goose species. Whilst habitat
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destruction and hunting undoubtedly had a negative
effect on population size, the recent colonisation
of low-intensity agricultural systems and
subsequent use of intensively-managed reseeded
grasslands have permitted considerable extension
to an otherwise highly conservative pattern of
habitat use. Restrictions on winter hunting have
resulted in an increase in numbers since 1982,
such that it seems likely that there are now more
Greenland White-fronted Geese than in the recent
past, strongly suggesting that population
limitation was previously related to factors operating
on the wintering grounds. The provision of
new improved grassland habitats during the 20th
Century has permitted the colonisation of new,
richer food sources by the population. Hunting
in the period up to protection may have imposed
population limitation on the wintering grounds
prior to 1982. Hunting in Iceland is likely to continue
to add to overall mortality in the population.
The adequacy of site designation and conservation
in Iceland needs to be considered in the
context of the annual cycle. Extension of feeding
to intensively managed agricultural grasslands
available from the late 20th Century onwards has
probably been responsible for the contemporary
lack of population limitation through factors operating
on the wintering grounds. Under protection,
numbers have increased but show new signs
of reduction in the rate of increase. New threats
to the population from global climate change and
competitive interactions with other herbivorous
geese recently colonising their breeding areas
underline the need for continued monitoring of
the population. It is therefore important to initiate
a specific study of the influence of climate on survival
and reproduction amongst elements of the
population in different parts of the breeding range.