Bonn – A recent Arctic expedition by an international research team has confirmed that polar bears are increasingly found depredating the nests of Barnacle Geese (Branta leucopsis) on a number of small offshore islands along the western coast of Svalbard. The islands are host to an array of bird species and until recently have been considered a relatively safe place for the birds to breed.
While the sea has been an effective barrier to keep Arctic Foxes from the islands, it has not discouraged another potential predator – the polar bear – to turn to the eggs and newly hatched chicks of Barnacle Geese and other birds found breeding on the islands.
The observation was made by a team of scientists from the University of Groningen, The Netherlands, the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) and BResearch, Groningen, during a recent field visit to the islands conducted in the framework of a long-term population study (initiated in the 1970s) on Barnacle Geese between Isfjorden and Bellsund.
“The situation in our study area along the west coast of Svalbard looks pretty grim,” said Jouke Prop, one of the scientists involved in the long-term study at BResearch Groningen. “Each year more bears are coming and there is a tendency for them to come earlier, which is having a larger impact on the breeding population,” he continued.
The researchers see a direct link between the increase in the number of bears found on the islands during the summer months and the diminishing polar ice, which leaves the bears stranded and unable to reach the seals on which they usually feed.
As increasing numbers of polar bears are visiting the islands, researchers hope that the geese will adapt in time to reduce the damage to the total population. “Some of the goose colonies in Svalbard use cliffs to nest. Although that has its own problems for fledgling chicks, it does put the nests out of reach of marauding bears,” said Brian Morrel, one of the scientists from the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) in a recent press release issued by WWT.
Conservation efforts over the last 60 years have brought the goose, which migrates between Scotland and Svalbard, back from a dire 300 to over 30,000. Hence, the Svalbard/South-west Scotland population of the Barnacle Goose (Branta leucopsis) is now listed in Column B, Category 1 of Table 1 of the AEWA Agreement Text, indicating a population size between around 25,000 and around 100,000 individuals. If the population dropped below 25,000 birds it will be moved to Column A, Category 2 indicating a worsening conservation status and the need for appropriate action for reaching a favourable status. However, it is still unclear what impact the marauding polar bears will have on the entire population.
“How these developments will work out for the population as a whole I don’t know. Certainly, the offshore islands used to host the majority of barnacle geese breeding population but they seem to have lost this position now and some birds are starting to use new sites, somewhat more inland and safer from the bears. We must continue to follow how the geese respond and see if they will be able to find alternative locations. I suspect they will find alternatives,” concluded Jouke Prop.
Source: UNEP-AEWA Press Release dated August 31, 2010.
