Oceanic records of North American bats and implications for offshore wind energy development in the United States.

ABSTRACT: Offshore wind energy is a growing industry in the United States, and renewable energy from offshore wind is estimated to double the country's total electricity generation. There is growing concern that land-based wind development in North America is negatively impacting bat populations, primarily long-distance migrating bats, but the impacts to bats from offshore wind energy are unknown. Bats are associated with the terrestrial environment, but have been observed over the ocean. In this review, we synthesize historic and contemporary accounts of bats observed and acoustically recorded in the North American marine environment to ascertain the spatial and temporal distribution of bats flying offshore. We incorporate studies of offshore bats in Europe and of bat behavior at land-based wind en

SUBMITTER: Solick DI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8571582 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature