A comparison of green-winged teal Anas crecca survival and harvest between Europe and North America

Abstract

The impact of waterfowl harvest on the dynamics of duck populations remains incompletely understood. While wide-scale monitoring and management programs have been set up in North America, far less has been done in Europe where populations and harvest are essentially managed at country level with a sole focus on population size. Hence, comparing North American waterfowl populations with European waterfowl populations could be useful in suggesting flyway-scale management options in Europe. In our paper, we analyse historical capture-recapture-recoveries data for the European teal Anas crecca crecca and we compare the computed survival and harvest rates to those obtained from a North American recovery data set for the green-winged teal Anas crecca carolinensis, its sister taxon. During 1960-1976, the annual probability of survival was slightly lower in Europe (average over sexes: 0.485 ± 0.101) than in North America (0.545 ± 0.010 for both sexes). Assuming a 30 ring reporting rate, our estimate of the annual harvest rate was about three times higher in Europe (average over sexes: 0.178 ± 0.051) than in North America (average over sexes: 0.071 ± 0.014). Although the European population increased over the study period and continues to do so, such a hunting pressure may potentially reduce our flexibility in managing this population due to uncertainties such as environmental changes, and have deleterious effects in the long term. We use our results to discuss waterfowl research and management in Europe. Initiating studies to estimate ring reporting rate would be an essential first step to properly evaluate the impact of harvest on the dynamics of the teal population in Europe. © 2010 Wildlife Biology.