The wild goose chase
| dc.contributor.author | Rolleston, Aaria | |
| dc.contributor.author | Dunlay, Lauren | |
| dc.contributor.author | Hooper, Sophie | |
| dc.contributor.author | Ries, Trinity | |
| dc.contributor.author | Przychodzko, Jessica | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-12-18T00:08:00Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-12-18T00:08:00Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2024 | |
| dc.description | A report produced for The New Zealand Conservation Trust as part of the GEOG309 Research for Resilient Environments and Communities course (Department of Earth and Environment, University of Canterbury) | |
| dc.description.abstract | ● Canada geese are an invasive species that have detrimental effects on the environment. This includes water pollution and greenspace degradation. ● New Zealand Conservation Trust was concerned if the resident waterfowl species niche was being impacted by the presence of Canada geese. ● Our research aim was to investigate if Canada geese have an impact on resident waterfowl at Styx Mill Reserve (Pūharakekenui). ● We also aimed to compare the effectiveness of different management strategies, by comparing Canada geese population abundance at Styx Mill Reserve to Victoria Lake. ● The methodology we used was recording bird behaviour, and bird abundance. ● Over 9 days we observed Canada geese interactions with resident waterfowl, by recording 3 categories of behaviour: No interaction, Goose retreat, Goose advance. ● We counted each individual bird to record species abundance. ● Our results concluded that there was a significance of no interaction between Canada geese and resident waterfowl at Styx Mill Reserve and Victoria Lake. ● There was no significance between the Canada geese abundance and resident waterfowl abundance at Styx Mill Reserve. ● Styx Mill Reserve has native bankside vegetation, Victoria Lake has grass lawn. ● Euthanasia as a management strategy, shows most promise for long term removal, whilst egg pricking and decoys are effective as a short term strategy. ● A major shortcoming was that our study length was too short, which consequently made our sample size small. This limited our statistical analysis. ● Increasing sample size and study length to an annual period of observation, would increase reliability of statistical analysis. ● Future observation of geese behaviour with offspring around other waterfowl could further test the hypothesis of Canada geese aggressiveness. | |
| dc.identifier.citation | Rolleston A, Dunlay L, Hooper S, Ries T and Przychodzko J, 2024, The Wild Goose Chase. A report produced for The New Zealand Conservation Trust as part of the GEOG309 Research for Resilient Environments and Communities course, University of Canterbury, 2024. | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10092/107833 | |
| dc.publisher | University of Canterbury | |
| dc.rights | All rights reserved unless otherwise stated | |
| dc.title | The wild goose chase | |
| dc.type | Theses / Dissertations | |
| thesis.degree.level | Bachelors |