Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The impact of nutrient loading from Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) on water quality, a mesocosm approach

  • Primary Research Paper
  • Published:
Hydrobiologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A mesocosm experiment determined the impact of Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) feces on water chemistry. After 30 days of fecal additions (treatments of 1.209, 2.419 g, and 12.090 g every 3 d to 0.811 m3 size mescosms), no significant changes in water column total phosphorus, nitrate, N:P ratios, total Kjeldahl nitrogen, chlorophyll-a, or phycocyanin were observed among treatment groups. Soluble reactive phosphorus showed a marginally significant increase in the high treatment group. A settling experiment suggested that goose feces and associated nutrients settled quickly to the sediment. Since fecal material settles quickly to the sediment, the impact of additional fecal material would not become evident in a lake until a wind event mixes the sediment into the water column or through alteration of the productivity or community structure of the benthos.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abraham, K. F. & R. L. Jefferies, 1997. High goose populations: Causes, impacts and implications. In Batt, B. (ed.), Arctic Ecosystems in Peril: Report of the Arctic Goose Habitat Working Group. Arctic Goose Joint Venture, Canadian Wildlife Service, Ottawa and US Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, D.C., 7–72. (ISBN 0-9617279-3-4).

  • Ankney, C. D., 1996. An embarrassment of riches: too many geese. Journal of Wildlife Management 60: 217–223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • APHA. 1999. Standard Methods for the Examination of Waste and Wastewater. 19th edn. American Public Health Association, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bedard, J. & G. Gauthier, 1986. Assessment of faecal output in geese. Journal of Applied Ecology 23: 77–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carmichael, W. W. & J. An, 1999. Using an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and a protein phosphatase inhibition assay (PPIA) for the detection of microcystins and nodularins. Natural Toxins 7: 377–385.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dawson, R. M., 1998. The toxicology of microcystins. Toxicon 36: 953–963.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dennis, D. G., N. R. North & H. G. Lumsden (2000) Range expansion and population growth of giant Canada geese in southern Ontario: benefits, drawbacks, and management techniques. Pages 159–165 In Dickson, K. (ed.). Towards conservation of diversity of Canada geese (Branta Canadensis) Can. Wildl. Serv. Occas. Pap. 103, 168 pp.

  • Harris, H. J. Jr., J. A. Ladowski & D. J. Worden, 1981. Water-quality problems and management of an urban waterfowl sanctuary. Journal of Wildlife Management 45: 501–507.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hisbergues, M., G. Christiansen, L. Rouhiainen, K. Sivonen & T. Börner, 2003. PCR-based identification of microcystin-producing genotypes of different cyanobacterial genera. Archives of Microbiology 180: 402–410.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hope, J., 2000. The geese that came in from the wild. Audubon 102: 122–127.

    Google Scholar 

  • James, C.P. and H.A. James, 1993. An analytical method for anatoxin-a, a blue green algal neurotoxin in reservoir water. Report no. FR0363. Foundation for Water Research.

  • James, R. A. 2000. Dispersal patterns of giant Canada geese (Branta canadensis maxima), in the Central United States. Masters thesis, University of Arkansas, Arkansas, USA, 1–2.

  • Kear, J. 1963. The agricultural importance of wild goose droppings. The Waterfowl Trust, 14th Annual Report, 1961–1962, 72–77.

  • Kitchell, J. F., D. E. Schindler, B. R. Herwig, D. M. Post, M. H. Olson & M. Oldham, 1999. Nutrient cycling at the landscape scale: the role of diel foraging migrations by geese at the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge. Limnology and Oceanography 44: 828–836.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maccarrone, A. D. & C. H. Cope, 2004. Recent trends in the winter population of Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) in Wichita, Kansas: 1998–2003. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 107: 77–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mallory, M. L., A. J. Fontaine, P. A. Smith, M. O. Wiebe Robertson & H. G. Gilchrist, 2006. Water chemistry of ponds on Southampton Island, Nunavut, Canada: effects of habitat and ornithogenic inputs. Archiv fur Hydrobiologie 166: 411–432.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Manny, B. A., R. G. Wetzel & W. C. Johnson, 1975. Annual contribution of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus by migrant Canada geese to a hardwater lake. Verhandlungen—Internationale Vereinigung für Theoretische und Angewandte Limnologie 19: 949–951.

    Google Scholar 

  • Manny, B. A., W. C. Johnson & R. G. Wetzel, 1994. Nutrient additions by waterfowl to lakes and reservoirs: predicting their effects on productivity and water quality. Hydrobiologia 279/280: 121–132.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marion, L., P. Clergeau, L. Brient & G. Bertru, 1994. The importance of avian-contributed nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) to Lake Grand-Lieu, France. Hydrobiologia 279/280: 133–147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olson, M. H., M. M. Hage, M. D. Binkley & J. R. Binder, 2005. Impact of migratory snow geese on nitrogen and phosphorus dynamics in a freshwater reservoir. Freshwater Biology 50: 882–890.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Oliver, J. D. & T. Legović, 1988. Okefenokee marshland, before during and after nutrient enrichment by a bird rookery. Ecological Modeling 43: 195–223.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pettigrew, C. T., B. J. Hahn & L. G. Goldsborough, 1998. Waterfowl feces as a source of nutrients to a prairie wetland: responses of microinvertebrates to experimental additions. Hydrobiologia 362: 55–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Post, D. M., J. P. Taylor, J. F. Kitchell, M. H. Olson, D. E. Schindler & B. R. Herwig, 1998. The role of migratory raterfowl as nutrient vectors in a managed wetland. Conservation Biology 12: 910–920.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schindler, D. W., F. A. J. Armstrong, S. K. Holmgren & G. J. Brunskill, 1971. Eutrophication of Lake 227, Experimental Lakes Area, Northwestern Ontario, by addition of phosphate and nitrate. Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada 28: 1763–1781.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Scherer, N. M., H. L. Gibbons, K. B. Stoops & M. Muller, 1995. Phosphorus loading of an urban lake by bird droppings. Lake and Reservoir Management 11: 317–327.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2003a. New York, Eastern Ontario and Southern Quebec Waterfowl Breeding Population Survey. U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2003b. Waterfowl population status, 2003. U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ward, H. B. & G. C. Whipple, 1918. Freshwater Biology. 2nd ed. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson, S. B., E. McCauley & J. A. Downing, 1997. Patterns in phytoplankton taxonomic composition across temperate lakes of differing nutrient status. Limnology and Oceanography 42: 487–495.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wetzel, R. G. & G. E. Likens, 2000. Limnological Analyses. 3rd edn. Springer-Verlag, New York, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zar, J. H., 1999. Biostatistical Analysis, 4th edn. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhou, L., H. Kassa, M. L. Tischler & L. Xiao, 2004. Host-adapted cryptosporidium spp. in Canada geese (Branta Canadensis). Applied and Environmental Microbiology 70: 4211–4215.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank C. Norment, J. Haynes, T. Lewis, K. Martens and A. Hanson for their constructive comments that improved an earlier version of the manuscript. D.J. White, S. Halbrend, W. Guenther and J.A. Somarelli assisted with sample analysis.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Robert L. Unckless

    Present address: Department of Biology, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, 14627-0211, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Science and Biology, State University of New York College, Brockport, NY, 14420, USA

    Robert L. Unckless & Joseph C. Makarewicz

Authors
  1. Robert L. Unckless
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Joseph C. Makarewicz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Robert L. Unckless.

Additional information

Handling editor: K. Martens

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Unckless, R.L., Makarewicz, J.C. The impact of nutrient loading from Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) on water quality, a mesocosm approach. Hydrobiologia 586, 393–401 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-007-0712-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-007-0712-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation