Livestock, humans and predators as Upland Goose (Chloephaga picta) nests disturbances

ROESLER CARLOS IGNACIO; REBOREDA JUAN CARLOS; FASOLA LAURA; COSSA NATALIA ANDREA

Cartagena

Congreso; 28th International Congress for Conservation Biology; 2017

Society for Conservation Biology

Intensified land use in agriculture is one of the main causes of global change and biodiversity loss. Ground-nesting birds, such as Upland Goose, are particularly sensitive, as livestock produce the loss of tall grasses suitable for nesting, trampling, and disturbance to the reproductive couple. In overgrazed areas, vegetation is shorter and nests are more visible to predators. Patagonian steppe?s main productive activity, where the Upland Goose breeds, is large-scale livestock production. This species has suffered a 67% population decline in the last 31 years and is categorized as vulnerable in Argentina. We monitored its nests with camera traps in Santa Cruz province, in order to study nest disturbances such as livestock, predators or scientists monitoring nests. These disturbances produce involuntary off-bouts which could reduce reproductive success due to eggs remain exposed to predators and get cold or hot faster impacting on embryo development. We studied off-bouts duration following disturbance and compared it with situations when females leave the nests voluntarily to forage. Livestock sniffed, licked, and nuzzled the female and the nest. Two nests were trampled. Predator (165±72 min, n=4) and human (104±10 min, n=33) off-bouts lasted longer than forage (40±2 min, n=224) and livestock (28±6 min, n=11) off-bouts (ppredator vs forage=0.01, phuman vs forage