Timing and Weather Offer Alternative Mitigation Strategies for Lowering Bat Mortality at Wind Energy Facilities in Ontario.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Squires KA
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8698177 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Hundreds of thousands of bats are killed annually by colliding with wind turbines in the U.S., yet little is known about factors causing variation in mortality across wind energy facilities. We conducted a quantitative synthesis of bat collision mortality with wind turbines by reviewing 218 North American studies representing 100 wind energy facilities. This data set, the largest compiled for bats to date, provides further support that collision mortality is greatest for migratory tree-roosting species (Hoary Bat [Lasiurus cinereus], Eastern Red Bat [Lasiurus borealis], Silver-haired Bat [Lasionycteris noctivagans]) and from July to October. Based on 40 U.S. studies meeting inclusion criteria and analyzed under a common statistical framework to account for methodological variation, we found support for an inverse relationship between bat mortality and percent grassland cover surrounding wind energy facilities. At a national scale, grassland cover may best reflect openness of the landscape, a factor generally associated with reduced bat activity and abundance that may also reduce turbine collisions. Further representative sampling of wind energy facilities is required to validate this broad pattern. Ecologically informed decisions regarding placement of wind energy facilities involves multiple considerations, including not only factors associated with bat mortality, but also factors associated with bird collision mortality, indirect habitat-related impacts to all species, and overall ecosystem impacts.
| S-EPMC6490962 | biostudies-literature
Project description:A scarcity of baseline data is a significant barrier to understanding and mitigating potential impacts of offshore development on birds and bats. Difficult and sometimes unpredictable conditions coupled with high expense make gathering such data a challenge. The Acoustic and Thermographic Offshore Monitoring (ATOM) system combines thermal imaging with acoustic and ultrasound sensors to continuously monitor bird and bat abundance, flight height, direction, and speed. ATOM's development and potential capabilities are discussed, and illustrated using onshore and offshore test data obtained over 16 months in the eastern USA. Offshore deployment demonstrated birds tending to fly into winds and activity declining sharply in winds >10 km h(-1). Passerines showed distinct seasonal changes in flight bearing and flew higher than non-passerines. ATOM data could be used to automatically shut down wind turbines to minimize collision mortality while simultaneously providing information for modeling activity in relation to weather and season.
| S-EPMC4623866 | biostudies-other
Project description:Across the entire distribution of a species, populations may have variable responses to environmental perturbations. Many bat species experience mortality in large portions of their range during hibernation and along migratory paths to and from wintering grounds, from White-nose syndrome (WNS) and wind energy development, respectively. In some areas, warm temperatures may allow bats to remain active through winter, thus decreasing their susceptibility to WNS and/or mortality associated with migration to wintering grounds. These areas could act as a refugia and be important for the persistence of local populations. To determine if warmer temperatures affect bat activity, we compared year-round activity of bat populations in the Coastal Plain and Piedmont of North Carolina, USA, two regions that differ in winter temperature. We established six recording stations, four along a 295-kilometer north-south transect in the Coastal Plain, and two in the Piedmont of North Carolina. We recorded bat activity over two years. We supplemented our recordings with mist-net data. Although bat activity was lower during winter at all sites, the odds of recording a bat during winter were higher at Coastal Plain sites when compared with Piedmont sites. Further, bats in the Piedmont had a lower level of winter activity compared to summer activity than bats in the Coastal Plain that had more similar levels of activity in the winter and summer. We found high bat species richness on the Coastal Plain in winter, with winter-active species including those known to hibernate throughout most of their range and others known to be long distance migrants. In particular, two species impacted by WNS, the northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis) and tricolored bat (Perimyotis subflavus), were present year round in the Coastal Plain. The tricolored bat was also present year-round in the Piedmont. In the Coastal Plain, the long distance migratory hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus) was active in the winter but not present during the other seasons, and the long distance migratory silver-haired bat (Lasionycteris noctivagans) was active primarily in the winter, suggesting the Coastal Plain may be an overwintering ground for these two species. We suggest that the winter activity exhibited by populations of bats on the North Carolina Coastal Plain has important conservation implications and these populations should be carefully monitored and afforded protection.
| S-EPMC5112809 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundMany residents of assisted living facilities live with dementia, but little is known about the characteristics of assisted living facilities that provide specialized care for older adults who live with dementia. In this study, we identify the characteristics of assisted living facilities that offer a dementia care program, compared to those that do not offer such a program.MethodsWe conducted a population-level cross-sectional study on all licensed assisted living facilities in Ontario, Canada in 2018 (n = 738). Facility-level characteristics (e.g., resident and suite capacities, etc.) and the provision of the other 12 provincially regulated care services (e.g., pharmacist and medical services, skin and wound care, etc.) attributed to assisted living facilities were examined. Multivariable Poisson regression with robust standard errors was used to model the characteristics of assisted living facilities associated with the provision of a dementia care program.ResultsThere were 123 assisted living facilities that offered a dementia care program (16.7% versus 83.3% no dementia care). Nearly half of these facilities had a resident capacity exceeding 140 older adults (44.7% versus 21.6% no dementia care) and more than 115 suites (46.3% versus 20.8% no dementia care). All assisted living facilities that offered a dementia care program also offered nursing services, meals, assistance with bathing and hygiene, and administered medications. After adjustment for facility characteristics and other provincially regulated care services, the prevalence of a dementia care program was nearly three times greater in assisted living facilities that offered assistance with feeding (Prevalence Ratio [PR] 2.91, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 1.98 to 4.29), and almost twice as great among assisted living facilities that offered medical services (PR 1.78, 95% CI 1.00 to 3.17), compared to those that did not.ConclusionsA dementia care program was more prevalent in assisted living facilities that housed many older adults, had many suites, and offered at least five of the other 12 regulated care services. Our findings deepen the understanding of specialized care for dementia in assisted living facilities.
| S-EPMC8365888 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Diagnostic difficulties may have led to underestimation of rhinovirus infections in long-term care facilities. Using surveillance data, we found that rhinovirus caused 59% (174/297) of respiratory outbreaks in these facilities during 6 months in 2009. Disease was sometimes severe. Molecular diagnostic testing can differentiate these outbreaks from other infections such as influenza.
| S-EPMC3294989 | biostudies-literature
Project description:As wind and solar power provide a growing share of Europe's electricity1, understanding and accommodating their variability on multiple timescales remains a critical problem. On weekly timescales, variability is related to long-lasting weather conditions, called weather regimes2-5, which can cause lulls with a loss of wind power across neighbouring countries6. Here we show that weather regimes provide a meteorological explanation for multi-day fluctuations in Europe's wind power and can help guide new deployment pathways which minimise this variability. Mean generation during different regimes currently ranges from 22 GW to 44 GW and is expected to triple by 2030 with current planning strategies. However, balancing future wind capacity across regions with contrasting inter-regime behaviour - specifically deploying in the Balkans instead of the North Sea - would almost eliminate these output variations, maintain mean generation, and increase fleet-wide minimum output. Solar photovoltaics could balance low-wind regimes locally, but only by expanding current capacity tenfold. New deployment strategies based on an understanding of continent-scale wind patterns and pan-European collaboration could enable a high share of wind energy whilst minimising the negative impacts of output variability.
| S-EPMC5540172 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundLow-frequency (20-200 Hz) noise (LFN) from wind turbines has received much public attention due to potential health concerns. This work tries to estimate the sound power level of wind turbines (L W,A (dB)) at 20-200 Hz, which are not provided by manufacturers but essential for estimating LFN exposure (L Aeq) of nearby residents.MethodsL W,A at 20-200 Hz at three wind farms, each with a different brand of wind turbine (Brands A, B and C, respectively) were estimated using propagation model ISO 9613-2 under different weather conditions (rain, wind speed and wind direction) and validated with LFN monitoring data. The feasibility of using validated L W,A as inputs for ISO 9613-2 to simulate residents' exposure (L Aeq) to LFN were assessed considering interferences from rain, wind speed and wind directions.ResultsThe average L W,A at 20-200 Hz ranged between 93.2 and 100.4 dB, 97.8 and 107.2 dB, and 96.5 and 110.4 dB for turbines of Brands A, B, and C, respectively, operating under wind speeds from 2 to 12 m/s. The L W,A at wind speed of 2-8 m/s increased on average by 1.4, 1.9 and 1.7 dB per 1 m/s increase for Brands A, B and C, respectively. The differences in modeled Leq obtained through the input of L W,A into the ISO 9613-2 model and the measured L Aeq for the three studied wind farms all fall within 1.5 dB.ConclusionThis study successfully determined and validated the L W,A of wind turbines of three brands, and subsequent residents' LFN exposure (with 1.5 dB difference) at three wind farms. Accurately obtaining LFN exposure will serve as the basis for assessing LFN exposure-health relationship. As wind power widely use worldwide, health impact should be assessed based on validated LFN exposure assessment.
| S-EPMC7721757 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The winter of 2013/2014 saw a series of severe storms hit the UK, leading to widespread flooding, a major emergency response and extensive media exposure. Previous research indicates that experiencing extreme weather events has the potential to heighten engagement with climate change, however the process by which this occurs remains largely unknown, and establishing a clear causal relationship from experience to perceptions is methodologically challenging. The UK winter flooding offered a natural experiment to examine this question in detail. We compare individuals personally affected by flooding (n?=?162) to a nationally representative sample (n?=?975). We show that direct experience of flooding leads to an overall increased salience of climate change, pronounced emotional responses and greater perceived personal vulnerability and risk perceptions. We also present the first evidence that direct flooding experience can give rise to behavioural intentions beyond individual sustainability actions, including support for mitigation policies, and personal climate adaptation in matters unrelated to the direct experience.
| S-EPMC7175646 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Researchers typically conduct fatality monitoring to determine a wind energy facility's direct impacts on wildlife. In the United States, wind energy impacts on eagles have received increased attention in recent years because eagle incidental take permits became available. Permit holders are required to conduct fatality monitoring to evaluate compliance with permitted eagle take. Our objective was to develop an efficient eagle fatality monitoring protocol with a quantifiable detection probability based on a stationary scanning search method. We conducted scanning searches for eagle carcasses at four wind energy facilities. We estimated searcher efficiency of the scanning search method using feathered turkey decoys as eagle carcass surrogates, used publicly available data on large raptor carcass distances from turbines to evaluate the proportion of carcasses expected to occur in searched areas, and estimated carcass persistence rates for game birds and raptors. These three bias adjustments were combined to estimate the overall probability of detection for the scanning search method. We found generally high searcher efficiency for the scanning search method, with 76% of decoys detected; however, detection decreased with distance and difficulty of visibility class. Mean carcass persistence time varied between 28 and 76 days for raptors and between three and nine days for game birds, showing that game birds do not persist as long as raptors. We estimated that 95% of large avian carcasses fall within 100 m of turbine bases, and 99% fall within 150 m. Using these estimates and assuming a 30-day search interval for all facility turbines, we estimated that the probability of detecting a large raptor carcass using the scanning search method at a wind facility ranged from 0.50 to 0.69. Our research suggests a monitoring program that uses scanning searches can be a cost-effective approach for gathering data necessary to meet incidental eagle take permit requirements.
| S-EPMC6291117 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Over recent years, it became widely accepted that alternative, renewable energy may come at some risk for wildlife, for example, when wind turbines cause large numbers of bat fatalities. To better assess likely populations effects of wind turbine related wildlife fatalities, we studied the geographical origin of the most common bat species found dead below German wind turbines, the noctule bat (Nyctalus noctula). We measured stable isotope ratios of non-exchangeable hydrogen in fur keratin to separate migrants from local individuals, used a linear mixed-effects model to identify temporal, spatial and biological factors explaining the variance in measured stable isotope ratios and determined the geographical breeding provenance of killed migrants using isoscape origin models. We found that 72% of noctule bat casualties (n = 136) were of local origin, while 28% were long-distance migrants. These findings highlight that bat fatalities at German wind turbines may affect both local and distant populations. Our results indicated a sex and age-specific vulnerability of bats towards lethal accidents at turbines, i.e. a relatively high proportion of killed females were recorded among migratory individuals, whereas more juveniles than adults were recorded among killed bats of local origin. Migratory noctule bats were found to originate from distant populations in the Northeastern parts of Europe. The large catchment areas of German wind turbines and high vulnerability of female and juvenile noctule bats call for immediate action to reduce the negative cross-boundary effects of bat fatalities at wind turbines on local and distant populations. Further, our study highlights the importance of implementing effective mitigation measures and developing species and scale-specific conservation approaches on both national and international levels to protect source populations of bats. The efficacy of local compensatory measures appears doubtful, at least for migrant noctule bats, considering the large geographical catchment areas of German wind turbines for this species.
| S-EPMC4138012 | biostudies-literature