Northern gannets (Morus bassanus) are strongly affected by operating offshore wind farms during the breeding season

Peschko, Verena; Mendel, Bettina; Mercker, Moritz; Dierschke, Jochen; Garthe, Stefan

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.111509

Cited by 22 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…The offshore wind industry, with the use of radar and infra-red cameras, has put in the financial commitment to the correct size of project to finally put accurate, evidence-based numbers for avoidance rates of seabird [10] with the main results indicating that for most seabird species, 99.8% of individuals avoid going into the wind farm area. However, the flipside of that result is that those high percentages of animals are no longer using that area and this phenomena has already been witnessed for a range of seabird species [11], [12]. Evidence is also starting to gather for behavioural changes at tidal and wave sites but it is quite mixed depending on the species, with long term studies at SeaGen, Strangford Lough calling for more before data and standardised methodologies [13].…”

Section: B Displacementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecologically-sustainable futures for large-scale renewables and how to get there

Scott

2022

Int. J. Mar. Ene.

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To arrive at a sustainable future we need offshore renewables to succeed, and to do so we need to work together. There have been ecological showstoppers in the past and there will be again in the future unless we can co-design devices, array layouts and site locations of multiple very large-scale developments such that cumulative ecological effects can be assessed and conflicts with ecological laws, local communities and fishing industries be minimized. In order to effectively spatially manage our marine habitats, weigh-up ecological trade-offs and avoid/adapt to the worst effects of climate change, we need all those involved to understand, at some degree of detail, how our marine ecosystems function such that impact mitigation efforts can start at the design stage of devices and developments. This paper outlines a straightforward way to convey the most important environmental issues that are concerning renewables developments, as well as in the context of climate change, and at the scales of individuals and ecosystems. It covers a range of suggestions for the design of data collection, analysis and modelling frameworks to deal with these concerns and finishes with suggestions for potential avenues for future collaboration between ecological and engineering sciences.

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Section: B Displacementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecologically-sustainable futures for large-scale renewables and how to get there

Scott

2022

Int. J. Mar. Ene.

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“…Since its first publication in 2014, the factors from Bradbury et al (2014) and those used in KEC3 may have become outdated. For instance, Peschko et al (2020Peschko et al ( , 2021 conducted detailed studies of changes in behaviour and use of an area with OWF including seasonal differences for guillemot, kittiwake and northern gannet. Moreover, the RDRS scores were calculated based on IUCN population status and estimates of adult survival (Leopold et al, 2014), which are also incorporated in the ALI thresholds (Table 9; Potiek et al, 2021a).…”

Section: Habitat Displacement Casualtiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cumulative population-level effects of habitat loss on seabirds ‘Kader Ecologie en Cumulatie 4.0’

Soudijn¹,

Donk²,

Leopold³

et al. 2022

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“…Because raptors and bats prey on small-bodied birds and insects, which orient towards wind turbines by sensing air currents, curtailing wind farm operations would significantly decrease air turbulence and thus lower the collision risk [62,63]. Northern Gannets (Morus bassanus) showed consistent and strong avoidance behaviour/displacement to offshore wind farms [64], while Little Gulls (Hydrocoloeus minutus) and Sandwich Terns (Thalasseus sandvicensis) showed less-consistent displacement from offshore wind farms [65]. Guillemette and Larsen showed that distributions of sea ducks did not differ between areas with operating and stopped wind turbines [66].…”

Section: Collision Risk Of Ducks During Wind Turbine On Versus Off Ph...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Risk evaluation of onshore wind farms in relation to wild duck (Anatidae) movements in the Yangtze River Mouth, China

Zhao

Zhong

et al. 2021

IET Renewable Power Gen

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Although wind power is a promising source of renewable energy, previous studies have focused on uncovering species and abundance decreases caused by wind farms. However, very few studies focus on collision risk of onshore wind farms in relation to birds’ movements which are the important indicators for balancing wind energy development and biodiversity conservation. Here, birds’ movement were recorded by combining 15 ducks’ satellite tracking and six field surveys to assess collision risks in Yangtze River Mouth, the wintering site for migratory waterbirds along the East Asian–Australasian Flyway. It is found that distances between ducks’ locations and nearest wind turbines in middle and later wintering periods were significantly higher than during early period. Besides, ducks inside wind farm tended to fly outside turbine rotor height range (45–135 m: between lowest and highest points the rotor tips) within 300 m from the dyke where the turbines were located, thus decreasing their collision risk. Ducks also tended to fly below the minimum rotor tip height (< 45 m) when the turbines were rotating. These results suggest that ducks adopt behavioural avoidance strategies in response to wind farms, and turning off turbines to reduce collision risks may be unnecessary.

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Northern gannets (Morus bassanus) are strongly affected by operating offshore wind farms during the breeding season

Cited by 22 publications

References 46 publications

Ecologically-sustainable futures for large-scale renewables and how to get there

Ecologically-sustainable futures for large-scale renewables and how to get there

Cumulative population-level effects of habitat loss on seabirds ‘Kader Ecologie en Cumulatie 4.0’

Risk evaluation of onshore wind farms in relation to wild duck (Anatidae) movements in the Yangtze River Mouth, China

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