130925-studie-wildlife-comeback-in-europe

Table 2.
Major threats that
drove Pink-footed
goose decline and
may still constrain
the population [2, 3, 13] .
Distribution:
current status and changes
The Icelandic population of Pink-footed goose
breeds mainly in central Iceland (Figure 2),
with smaller numbers along the east coast of
Greenland. In Iceland, the species used to occur
only in Pjorsaver, an area of wet meadows in the
central highlands of the country. Since the early
1980s, it spread out from this area and now breeds
over much of the interior of the country. The
wintering grounds of the Icelandic population
are in Britain, where geese are found in central
Scotland in large numbers in early autumn and
then progress southwards, to Lancashire and
Norfolk in particular [1, 2, 12] .
The majority of the Svalbard population breeds
in western Svalbard, particularly in Spitsbergen
(Figure 2). In the autumn, this population moves
southwards via Norway, where there are stopover
sites, to Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium.
In Denmark, a narrow zone along the west coast
is used (Figure 2). The species used to stage in
northwest Germany in the 1950s, but these sites are
no longer used [1] . In the Netherlands, Pink-footed
geese are restricted to the southwestern part of
Friesland (Figure 2). Wintering grounds in Belgium
are found in the Flemish coastal polder area
(Figure 2) and were traditionally concentrated in a
small number of sites, but expanded when severe
Threat Description Impact
Climate change
and severe
weather
Agricultural
intensification
Agricultural
abandonment
Residential and
commercial
development
Renewable
energy
Hunting and
collecting
Human intrusions
and disturbance
Problematic
diseases
Problematic
native species
Habitat loss due to climate change could result
in reductions in the available breeding range
(northward expansion of shrub and taiga) and
fragmentation of winter/spring feeding habitat
(sea level rise), as well as a mismatch of the
breeding cycle to resource availability.
Habitat loss due to agricultural intensification
(e.g. drainage and ploughing of permanent wet
grasslands in Belgium).
Habitat loss due to abandonment of agriculture
(e.g. overgrowing of grasslands in Norway).
Habitat loss due to urban and industrial
development.
Development of hydroelectric projects planned
in Iceland would result in flooding of a major
moulting area.
Unsustainable illegal hunting and persecution by
farmers.
Human disturbance from e.g. recreational
activities or helicopters surveying for oil
exploration.
Avian influenza, parasites or other diseases due
to contact with high densities of wild duck and
poultry.
Recovery of potential predator populations, e.g.
Red fox (Vulpes vulpes), Arctic fox (V. lagopus),
Polar bear (Ursus maritimus) and White-tailed
eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla).
Unknown,
potentially high
High
High
Low
High
High
Medium
Medium
High
winters between the 1960s and 1980s pushed the
population towards France and new suitable areas
were discovered. Since the early 1990s, nearly
75% of the Svalbard population used to winter in
Belgium and the Netherlands [3, 12–14] , but recently
this percentage is much lower (