La Tour du Valat

Institut de recherche pour la conservation des zones humides méditerranéennes

Titre :	The big hunting experiment: Effects of hunting on space use and reaction distances in staging White-fronted and Bean Geese in the Lower Rhine area.
Auteurs :	Volkhard Wille, Auteur ; Hans-Heiner Bergmann, Auteur
Type de document :	Article
Dans :	Vogelwelt (Die) (123(6) 2002)
Article en page(s) :	293-306
Résumé :	The Lower Rhine area is a major winter staging area of wild geese in northern Germany and the Netherlands. During the four winters of this study (November 1994 through March 1999), Geese were hunted only in the Netherlands, not in the adjoining German part. Effects of hunting on the distribution of geese were mapped, reaction distances to disturbance, diurnal behaviour patterns and time budgets were compared between hunted and unhunted geese. During the hunting period up to 31 January, geese largely avoided the Dutch parts of the area. Reaction differences to unspecific disturbance by a car approaching the geese were significantly different in the hunted and unhunted parts of the area. Differences amounted to averages of ca. 40 meters for the "short alert" reaction, 34 meters for "long alert" but could reach 100 meters accordingly to the specific situation. According the effect of hunting appears to be generalised to otherwise neutral or less releasing stimuli. Trends of differences in time budgets and diurnal behaviour patterns in hunted and unhunted birds revealed not to be significant.

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