Flying without fear: shooting disturbance has little effect on site preferences in a conflict goose species

Human-modified landscapes have created opportunities for numerous taxa. Agricultural expansion has proven advantageous for several Arctic-breeding goose species, leading to increased abundance and intensified conflict with farmers. Shooting is frequently implemented as a mitigation strategy to control population and via scaring to alter the spatial distribution of conflict species. However, the efficacy of such regimes in manipulating the fear landscape is not always investigated.
We developed resource selection functions using GPS-tracking data for Greenland barnacle geese (Branta leucopsis) wintering on Islay, Scotland to assess foraging site choice. We assessed overall foraging site preference and evaluated the influence of shooting management on foraging site selection of key habitats.
Barnacle geese selected for improved grassland areas and the likelihood of utilisation varied between these fields according to field-specific management. Protected areas were strongly selected for al..., , , # Data and code associated with McIntosh, A.L.S., Langley, L.P., Hilton, G.M., Shaw, J.M., and Bearhop, S. 2024 \"Flying without fear: Shooting disturbance has little effect on site preferences in a conflict goose species\" Journal of Applied Ecology

## Contact information:

Please contact Aimée McIntosh ([[e-mail]](mailto:[e-mail])) for additional information about the analysis and data.

## Project Summary:

This data was collected as part of a PhD funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) in collaboration with the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) and NatureScot (formally Scottish Natural Heritage)

## Description of data and file structure:

R code for each habitat selection model is found in \"McIntosh2024_RSF_Model_Code.R\"

### 1. Overall habitat selection:

Data file: \"Overall_Hab_Model_Data.csv\"

Columns in the file include:
i) Winter <- Winter year
ii) Shooting <- Field-scale classification of shooting management design...