Arctic geese in newly colonised, colder breeding areas have higher spring body mass and breed earlier relative to the onset of spring

Sep 30, 2026

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Global warming advances spring onset, particularly in the Arctic, and migratory animals may respond by shifting phenology or colonising colder breeding regions where spring begins later. Pink-footed Geese from Svalbard recently expanded into colder Novaya Zemlya, enabling evaluation of costs and benefits. Using GPS tracking, long-term monitoring, and remote sensing, the study compares migration timing, breeding performance, and how spring onset shapes reproductive stages across traditional and new flyways.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages18

Reading Time45 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Methods and data sources

Migration and phenology comparisons

Breeding outcomes and reproductive-stage timing

Conclusions and implications

DOI: 10. 1111/1365-2656 .70172 R E S E A RC H A RT I C L E Arctic geese in newly colonised, colder breeding areas have higher spring body mass and breed earlier relative to the onset of spring Kees H. T. Schreven1,2 | Tom S. L. Versluijs3,4 | Michiel P. Boom1,2,5 | Fred Cottaar6 | Eckhart Kuijken7,8 | Jorma Pessa9 | Ingunn M. Tombre10 | Christine Verscheure8 | Jesper Madsen11 | Bart A. Nolet1,2 1Department of Animal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Wageningen, The Netherlands; 2Department of Theoretical and Computational Ecology, Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; 3 Department of Coastal Systems, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea, Research (NIOZ), ‘t Horntje, Texel, The Netherlands; 4Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences (GELIFES), University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands; 5Sovon Dutch Center for Field Ornithology, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; 6Independent Researcher, Haarlem, The Netherlands; 7Terrestrial Ecology Unit, Department of Biology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium; 8 Independent Researcher, Beernem, Belgium; 9ELY-Keskus-Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment, Oulu, Finland; 10 Department for Arctic Ecology, The Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), Tromsø, Norway and 11Department of Ecoscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark Correspondence Kees H. T. Schreven Email: [kees_schreven@hotmail.com](kees_schreven@hotmail.com) Funding information Svalbard's Environmental Protection Fund, Grant/Award Number: 17/88; Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, Grant/ Award Number: ALWPP.2016.024; Norges Forskningsråd; Aarhus Universitet; Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, KNAW Ecology Fund; County Governor of Nordland; Miljødirektoratet Handling Editor: Marius Somveille Abstract 1. Global warming causes spring onset to advance, especially in the Arctic. Migratory animals may respond by advancing their phenology or colonising colder areas where spring starts later. The role of climate change in range expansion can be both driving (making traditional areas suboptimal) and facilitating (making new areas suitable) . 2. Recently, Pink-footed Geese (Anser brachyrhynchus) from Svalbard showed extreme range expansion by colonising the colder Novaya Zemlya as breeding ground, involving a new migration route. We examine potential costs and benefits associated with breeding in this new area. 3. We use GPS-tracking, long-term population monitoring and remote sensing, to compare spring onset, migration timing and breeding performance between both flyways, and to evaluate how spring onset affects different reproductive stages in both breeding areas in these capital breeders. 4. The traditional route showed challenges for migration timing, as spring had advanced in Svalbard (while arrival date had not kept up) but not on stopovers, and recently, early spring on Svalbard correlated with late spring on stopovers. On new stopovers, spring did advance. Spring was later in Novaya Zemlya than Svalbard, yet arrival dates were similar. In Novaya Zemlya, egg laying occurred later than in Svalbard, but still earlier relative to local spring onset (e.g. snowmelt and green-up), suggesting a smaller mismatch. The period between arrival and egg laying was longer in Novaya Zemlya than Svalbard, but breeding performance This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2025 The Author(s) . Journal of Animal Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society. 98 | SCHREVEN et al. was similar. Finally, on the new route, geese were larger and (relatively) heavier than on the traditional route, thus possibly carrying larger capital body stores to

FAQs

What question does the study investigate about Arctic geese?

It examines whether colonising newly available, colder breeding areas changes spring body mass and breeding timing relative to local spring onset.

How do the researchers compare the two breeding areas and flyways?

They use GPS tracking, long-term population monitoring, and remote sensing to compare spring onset, migration timing, and breeding performance between the traditional and new routes.

What do the findings suggest about colonisation and phenological matching?

Colonising new breeding areas can restore phenological match with the environment when advancement of migration timing is limited, but breeding in colder areas may require more parental investment in body stores.

Sep 30, 2026

Upload by Rowan