Spatio-temporal patterns of crop damage caused by geese, swans and cranes—Implications for crop damage prevention

Abstract

European populations of geese, swans and cranes have increased considerably since the 1970s raising conflictsbetween conservation and farming interests. Crop damage caused by geese, swans and cranes across the nationalscale needs a trans-boundary approach that captures the site-specific characteristics of crop damage at a morerefined spatial scale, to deal with the high spatio-temporal variation inherent in the system and to avoid conflictdisplacement. In the present study we use long-term crop damage data (2000–2015) in Sweden to evaluateseasonal and annual patterns of crop damage. We show that crop damage increased over years but followed afairly consistent seasonal pattern during the later parts of the study period. We show how these seasonal patternsdiffer across the country such that trans-boundary regions with similar patterns of crop damage, relating todifferent nuisance species and damaged crops, can be identified. Thesefindings about spatio-temporal variationof damage can be used tofind appropriate scales of management units (e.g. areas with similar conditions), and toadapt damage mitigation strategies to temporal and spatial-specific conditions, e.g. guidance of when and wherecertain crop may be suitable as sacrificial crops.