Constant and seasonal drivers of bird communities in a wind farm: implications for conservation

Abstract

Background. One of the most difficult challenges for conservation biology is to reconcile growing human demands for resources with the rising need for protecting nature. Wind farms producing renewable energy have been recognised to be a threat for birds, but clear directives for environmental planning are still missing.Methods. Point counts were performed to study the relationship between eight environmental variables and bird populations in different parts of a year on the largest Polish wind farm between March 2011 and February 2013. Variables potentially related to species richness (Chao 1 estimator) and the abundance of the entire bird community as well as five selected farmland species were analysed with the use of generalized linear mixed models.Results. Some associations between the studied variables and bird populations were season/year specific, while others had a constant direction (positive or negative) across seasons and/or years. The latter were distance to the nearest turbine, field size, number of wind turbines, proximity of settlements and water bodies. Spatial autocorrelation and counting time were significantly correlated with bird population estimates but the directions of these relationships varied among seasons and years. Associations between abundance of individual species and environmental variables were species-specific.Conclusions. The results demonstrated a constant negative relationship between wind turbine proximity and bird numbers. Other environmental variables, such as field size, proximity of settlements and water bodies that also had constant associations with bird populations across seasons may be taken into account when minimizing adverse effects of wind farm development on birds or choosing optimal locations of new turbines.

The association of windmills with conservation of pollinating insects and wild plants in homogeneous farmland of western Poland

“…For example, small mammals were found by Łopucki and Mróz ( 2016 ) to occupy wind farms with similar abundance and species composition as control sites. However, there are also groups of animals such as birds that may be highly negatively affected by windmills (Rosin et al 2016b ); thus, the potential value of windmills for sustaining local species diversity should also consider different responses of different taxonomic groups to windmills.…”

“…Increasingly popular anthropogenic elements in farmland are wind farms which produce carbon-free energy although their positive effect on the environment is controversial (Rosin et al 2016b ). For example, in Poland, the first windmill was built in 1991; in 2011, the installed power was 1800 MW, but at the end of 2015, the power grew to 4886 MW (Central Statistical Office of Poland 2016 ).…”

“…Now in Poland, there are 1193 windmills with a total capacity 5807 MW. 1 The most discussed issue on wind farm is bird and bat collisions with turbines (Rydell et al 2010 ; Rosin et al 2016b ). There are also other problems like noise generated by turbines and alteration to the microclimate of adjacent fields including increased temperature of the ground, modification of humidity of the air at ground level, and heat transfer between the ground and atmosphere (Roy 2011 ; Walsh-Thomas et al 2012 ).…”

Prioritizing Green Spaces for Biodiversity Conservation in Beijing Based on Habitat Network Connectivity

“…Additionally, the distance to the nearest water body indicates the accessibility to water resources, another important factor for bird habitat selection [59,60]. Distance to road positively affects bird species richness [61] and traffic volume on roads positively correlated with woodland bird mortality [62].…”

Profile of Animal Ecology Field trip: Description of Students’ Identification Skills and Classification Skills

“…2014;Freeman, et al, 2016;Boss, et al, 2016;Gohli, et al, 2015;Rushing, et al, 2016;Zogaris, et al, 2016;Agostini, et al, 2016;Zuckerberg, et al, 2016;Miller, et al, 2016;Newson, et al, 2016) can also be used to study bird navigation (Freeman, et al, 2016;Orchan, et al, 2016;Gill, et al, 2015;Sjo'berg, et al, 2015;Gilroy, et al, 2016) it is beneficial for conservation efforts (Horton, et al,. 2014;Freeman, et al, 2016;Rosin, et al, 2016;Langham, et al, 2015;Newson, et al, 2016;Winger, et al, 2014).…”