Accommodation–repelling fields for mitigating human–goose conflicts

Research Highlight discussing: Seltmann, M., Ylitalo, A.K., Piironen, A., Store, R., Heikkinen, J., Heim, W., Piha, M., Seimola, T., Laaksonen, T., & Forsman, J. (2024). Arctic migrating barnacle geese utilize accommodation fields in a new agricultural staging area. Journal of Applied Ecology, https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14838. Human–wildlife conflicts often involve wildlife damage affecting people's livelihoods. Many goose species have increased due to conservation efforts and agriculture practices. Their preference to forage intensively in agricultural areas has caused large-scale damage to farmland, creating a conflict that needs effective mitigation solutions. Seltmann et al. investigated the effectiveness of accommodation-and-repelling-field mitigation strategy by looking at habitat selection of satellite-tracked barnacle geese (Branta leucopsis) at regional and local scales in an agricultural area of high goose impact. They found that geese at both scales preferred accommodation fields assigned in the study, suggesting the effectiveness of this management scheme in farmer–goose conflict mitigation. Their research highlighted the needs for refining and implementing locally tailored management strategies for wild birds in human-modified landscapes by addressing their habitat selection, with regard to the balance between reducing human–wildlife conflicts and supporting biodiversity conservation in the context of global environmental change.