130925-studie-wildlife-comeback-in-europe

Figure 2.
Current breeding
and wintering
distribution of
Barnacle goose in
Europe and historical
breeding distribution
in the 1980s [15] .
Table 2.
Major threats that
drove Barnacle goose
decline and may
still constrain the
population [19, 20] .
Sea coast, and simultaneously south to the North
Sea region, with colonies becoming established
during the 1980s in Germany, Belgium and the
Netherlands [17, 18] . The newly colonised areas are part
of the flyway of the population, so it is likely that
the founders were birds that stopped over at these
sites during migration and remained to breed [2, 17] .
The majority of the population still breeds in the
Barents Sea area [18] . The wintering areas have also
expanded since the 1950s, before which time the
wintering areas did not reach as far south as the
Netherlands [25] .
Threat Description Impact
Hunting and
collecting
Unsustainable and illegal shooting.
Historically, egg collecting used to be an
important cause of decline, particularly in
Russia [21] .
Historically high
Persecution
Agricultural
abandonment
Human intrusions
and disturbance
Problematic
native species
Residential and
commercial
development
Renewable
energy
Increased shooting from the 1970s due to damage
caused to agriculture.
Abandonment of grazing in northwest Scotland
and Ireland wintering grounds. Possibility of land
use change under climate warming scenarios.
Disturbance, e.g. due to oil exploration activities
in Greenland.
Predation by Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus) has an
important impact on the Russian Barnacle goose
population.
Breeding sites in the North Sea are limited by
predation by Red fox (V. vulpes) [17] .
Reintroduction of White-tailed eagles (Haliaeetus
albicilla) in parts of Scotland may have an impact
on population dynamics through disturbance
and/or predation events.
Breeding grounds in Russia are threatened by
development of oil and gas industry.
Potential impact of numerous wind farms
planned or operational onshore and offshore in
England, Scotland and Norway along migratory
route and in wintering areas [22] .
High
High
Medium
Medium
Unknown
Unknown
Major threats
It has been suggested that the declines in the
Svalbard population in the early part of the 20th
century were partly the result of geese stopping
short in their migration on Islay, as feeding conditions
improved there with intensification of
agriculture [13, 23] . However, unsustainable shooting
on the Solway was also at least partly to blame [13] . In
the mid-1940s, the low numbers of geese counted
on the Solway were due to increased hunting
pressure and disturbance during World War II [13, 24] .
The population may be at risk due to the development
of wind power plants along its flyway, as
the geese would be vulnerable to collisions with
wind turbines [22] .
There are concerns over the long-term outlook
for the Greenland Barnacle goose, as a very large
proportion of the population uses a single haunt,
Islay, while other wintering sites have declined in
use or been deserted. The increasing agricultural
conflict on Islay raises the possibility of strong
reactions, such as culling, which could result in
population-level impact [16] . Complaints by farmers
about damage caused to agriculture has resulted in
the establishment of scaring schemes in a number of
countries, but they have had mixed effectiveness [16] .
Agricultural conflict is not yet an important
issue for the Russian/Baltic population [14] , but it
is a problem in the Netherlands and Belgium [4] .
As a consequence, the breeding population in the
Netherlands is currently being reduced by culling [26] .
Management of the conflict with agriculture is the
principal concern regarding the long-term sustainability
of Barnacle goose populations.
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