University of Saskatchewan – DUC Endowed Chair

Quantifying environmental drivers of the continental northern pintail population decline

A team of researchers from Environment and Climate Change Canada, Ducks Unlimited Canada, University of Minnesota and University of Missouri have studied pintail survival and productivity (the number of juveniles produced each year) to learn why the pintail population has declined over the last 20 years, counter to other dabbling duck populations.

The team is currently developing conservation scenarios to improve the pintail population, with region-specific goals in the Prairie Pothole Region, and detailed understanding of how land use and pond abundance during the breeding and non-breeding season influence the pintail population. They are also developing a multispecies assessment of the population dynamics of all dabbling ducks to determine whether climate change and land use change are influencing all species similarly or uniquely, so that we can customize conservation plans that are known to benefit several dabbling duck species.

This research project is led by postdoctoral fellow Dan Gibson.

Estimating population dynamics of Atlantic brant in eastern North America

Atlantic brant are a small-bodied goose that breed in the eastern Canadian Arctic, stage along James Bay and winter along coastal New Jersey and New York. These birds have a fascinating annual cycle—from nesting among the most remote landscapes in the world to wintering in the most densely human populated landscapes in the world.

Working with researchers from Canadian Wildlife Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Niskamoon Corporation, Eeyou Marine Region Wildlife Board, New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife, and New York Department of Environmental Conservation, we are deploying state-of-the-art tracking devices to determine the relative importance of breeding, staging and wintering areas for brant reproductive success. We also are evaluating brant energy expenditure on staging areas in James Bay, relative to energy gain from food sources, by visiting exact bird locations using GPS data from tracking devices, and collecting food samples. This information will inform conservation plans for James Bay to improve ecosystem health and equip practitioners with information about phases of the annual cycle that contribute most to brant reproductive success.

This work is led by PhD student Lindsay Carlson.

Studying population dynamics of lesser snow geese and Ross’s geese in the Canadian Arctic

Collectively, lesser snow geese and Ross’s geese represent some of the largest populations in North America. These birds are colonial nesting, sometimes nesting in densities greater than one million birds over a small space of the Canadian Arctic. Working with researchers from Environment and Climate Change Canada, we have been studying snow goose and Ross’s goose survival, productivity and movements at multiple breeding colonies in the central Arctic and subarctic. This information will help contextualize continental snow goose and Ross’s goose population patterns, as well as range shifts across the breeding range.

Quantifying the population dynamics and habitat use of Wrangel Island and western Arctic snow geese

Snow geese breeding on Wrangel Island have been studied for over 50 years, and yet we do not fully understand whether survival or reproductive success contribute more to population change. The western Arctic in Canada and the US also comprises breeding colonies of snow geese, which seem to have differing subpopulation trends than the Wrangel Island subpopulation. These snow goose subpopulations all tend to winter from the Fraser/Skagit River deltas in British Columbia and Washington to the Central Valley of California. In this project we will determine demographic rates that contribute most to population change. We also are deploying GPS-acceleration tracking devices on western Arctic snow geese and are focusing on habitat use on Banks Island (Northwest Territories) as one of the largest snow goose breeding colonies. Snow geese interact with Peary and barren ground caribou as well as muskox on breeding areas, so we will evaluate apparent competition among these species to design conservation plans that maintain ecosystem health and structure.

This work is led by postdoctoral fellow Antti Piironen and MSc student Katherine Marthens.