Pacific Black Brant Ecology

An on-going cooperative research program between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico to monitor population status and trends of Pacific Black Brant geese.

Abstract

Pacific Black Brant geese are a species of international attention because of their importance to subsistence and sport hunters throughout North America. They are recognized by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a focal species because of their wide geographic range of breeding and wintering. Research on Black Brant has focused on studies of movement, site fidelity, behavior, and habitat assessment during breeding and non-breeding (winter and migration) periods in California and Alaska to inform population trends and management actions. This project has amassed a large, multi-year data base of individual observations by season that is being used to show how survival probability varies with individual state and how climate may influence breeding and wintering in high latitude areas.

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Products

Title	Type
Spatial distribution of band recoveries of black brant	Publication
The black brant population is declining based on mark recapture	Publication
Goose Research at the USGS Alaska Science Center	Project Website
Black Brant Banding and Recovery Encounter Histories, Alaska, 1990-2016	Data

Contacts

Meixell, Brandt W., 907-786-7157
Ward, David H., 907.786.7097

Status: completed
Start Year: 2005
End Year: 2019

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Project Sites

Collaborators

CWS - Canadian Wildlife Service - British Columbia
FWS - Alaska Migratory Bird Management

Location

Izembek National Wildlife Refuge
North Slope Borough

USGS Mission Area and Program

Ecosystems → Wildlife Program

Major Initiatives

FWS - Migratory Bird Management Program
JV - Arctic Goose Joint Venture
USGS - Wetlands and Terrestrial Ecology

Keywords

Biosphere > Aquatic Ecosystems > Coastal Habitat
Biosphere > Ecological Dynamics > Species/Population Interactions