Snow geese populations could be affecting shorebirds
Shorebirds declining, over-grazing becoming an issue
Stewart Burnett
Northern News Services
Friday, June 12, 2015
IQALUIT
Exponentially increasing snow geese populations in the Arctic have sparked concerns about over-grazing.
Paul Smith, research scientist with Environment Canada, is with a team of researchers in Nunavut trying to find out the effect of snow geese on shorebird populations. - Stewart Burnett/NNSL photo
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The geese graze vegetation down to the ground and when the soil is soft enough will rip it apart to eat the starchy grass roots. This removes vegetation completely from an area and speeds up the rate of water evaporation from the soil, leaving the ground with a salty crust.
It's especially apparent in coastal areas in Nunavut, namely around Hudson Bay.
Beyond the effects to the land, the lack of vegetation in these areas could be damaging shorebirds.
Paul Smith, an Environment Canada research scientist, is with a team of researchers in Nunavut studying the effect of snow geese may have on shorebird populations.
"The issue is that the number of snow geese has increased dramatically over the last 30 or 40 years, so the population is now at a point where people are noticing fairly substantial changes to the tundra and we're tying to understand what those changes mean for other birds," said Smith after arriving in Iqaluit earlier this month.
Since the 1970s, snow geese populations have gone from hundreds of thousands to 15 million.
The increase in population is largely due to new farming methods that have increased food availability along the geese's traditional migration routes.
Shorebird populations have plummeted alongside the increased geese population.
"Shorebird populations are going down the tubes all over Nunavut," said Smith.
Recently, the red knot shorebird was listed as endangered after its population dropped by 80 per cent since the 1970s.
"Geese have increased exponentially at the same time shorebirds have decreased," said Smith. "It's not likely those decreases in shorebirds are entirely related to geese . but the question is whether or not geese could be playing a role."
Important to note, he said, is that geese are native to the Arctic, so it's not an issue of an invasive species.
"You expect there to be some effect of geese on Arctic habitat since geese belong here," said Smith. "The question is what's sustainable. That's what researchers are trying to figure out now."
His team is spending the summer in Nunavut studying shorebird populations and the effect snow geese are having on them.
