Developing an automated risk management tool to minimize bird and bat mortality at wind facilities.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Robinson Willmott J
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4623866 | biostudies-other | 2015 Nov
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
Publications
Developing an automated risk management tool to minimize bird and bat mortality at wind facilities.
Robinson Willmott Julia J Forcey Greg M GM Hooton Lauren A LA
Ambio 20151101
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 potent ...[more]
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Project description:Wind energy offers substantial environmental benefits, but wind facilities can negatively impact wildlife, including birds and bats. Researchers and managers have made major efforts to chronicle bird and bat mortality associated with wind facilities, but few studies have examined the patterns and underlying mechanisms of spatial patterns of fatalities at wind facilities. Understanding the horizontal fall distance between a carcass and the nearest turbine pole is important in designing effective search protocols and estimating total mortality. We explored patterns in taxonomic composition and fall distance of bird and bat carcasses at wind facilities in the Northeastern United States using publicly available data and data submitted to the US Fish and Wildlife Service under scientific collecting and special purpose utility permits for collection and study of migratory birds. Forty-four wind facilities reported 2,039 bird fatalities spanning 128 species and 22 facilities reported 418 bat fatalities spanning five species. Relative to long-distance migratory birds, short-distance migrants were found farther from turbines. Body mass of birds and bats positively influenced fall distance. Turbine size positively influenced fall distance of birds and bats when analyzed collectively and of birds when analyzed separately from bats. This suggests that as turbines increase in size, a greater search radius will be necessary to detect carcasses. Bird and bat fall distance distributions were notably multimodal, but only birds exhibited a high peak near turbine bases, a novel finding we attribute to collisions with turbine poles in addition to blades. This phenomenon varied across bird species, with potential implications for the accuracy of mortality estimates. Although pole collisions for birds is intuitive, this phenomenon has not been formally recognized. This finding may warrant an updated view of turbines as a collision threat to birds because they are a tall structure, and not strictly as a function of their motion.
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Project description:Relatively high mortality of migratory bats at wind energy facilities has prompted research to understand the underlying spatial and temporal factors, with the goal of developing more effective mitigation approaches. We examined acoustic recordings of echolocation calls at 12 sites and post-construction carcass survey data collected at 10 wind energy facilities in Ontario, Canada, to quantify the degree to which timing and regional-scale weather predict bat activity and mortality. Rain and low temperatures consistently predicted low mortality and activity of big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) and three species of migratory tree bats: hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus), eastern red bat (L. borealis), and silver-haired bat (Lasionycteris noctivagans). Bat activity occurred in waves with distinct peaks through the season; regardless of seasonal timing, most activities occurred in the first half of the night. We conclude that wind energy facilities could adopt a novel and more effective curtailment strategy based on weather and seasonal and nocturnal timing that would minimize mortality risks for bats while increasing the opportunities for power generation, relative to the mitigation strategy of increasing cut-in wind speed to 5.5 m/s.
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