High-voltage power lines near wild reindeer calving areas

Abstract

Within ungulate home ranges, suitable calving areas are of crucial importance for maintaining the reproductive potential of populations. Using GPS telemetry from a unique time series spanning before, during and after the construction of a 420-kV power line, we present results on calving site locations and area use during calving for two wild reindeer Rangifer tarandus tarandus populations (Setesdal West and Setesdal East) in Norway. For both populations, reindeer consistently preferred a core calving area at 4-8 km distance from the new power line in all three periods, indicating little preference of areas near the new power line. A reduction of the use of areas up to 6 km from the new power line during construction in Setesdal West may possibly indicate a disturbance effect. Contrary to our expectation, reindeer area use close to the new power line increased after construction in Setesdal East. Reindeer intensely used areas close to another existing 132 kV power line crossing the core calving area of Setesdal East during all years. However, reindeer area use was reduced up to 2 km from existing parallel 420 and 300 kV power lines located at the periphery of the calving area in Setesdal West, likely because of poor habitat. Our findings indicate that power lines may not be a disturbance causing avoidance effects for wild ungulates, while construction activities can induce a temporary reduction in area use.

Reindeer spatial use before, during and after construction of a wind farm

“…As examples, recent GPS-studies report negative effects during construction, but no avoidance from power lines during operation (e.g., Colman et al, 2015;Eftestøl et al, 2016), while some prior studies based on direct observations reported avoidance within 4 km from power lines during operation (see review in Skarin and Åhman, 2014). Using 9 years of direct observation and 3 years of GPS data, we are confident in presenting a balanced sample for reindeer spatial use in the WF area, covering a long enough time span to separate real effects from natural fluctuations.…”

“…Undoubtedly, human activity frightens reindeer (e.g., high traffic roads and tourist developments) and roads by themselves may allow animals to move faster than otherwise because they can present a path of least resistance. However, it is less obvious how technical developments without associated human activity (e.g., power lines, pipelines, wind farms, hydro power stations) would frighten reindeer on a larger scale and lead to avoidance (Bejder et al, 2009;Colman et al, 2015;Colman et al, 2017;Eftestøl et al, 2016). Wind turbines produce noise and visual disturbance, while the level of human activity within WFs is generally lower than e.g., along public roads or tourist developments.…”

Out of sight of wind turbines—Reindeer response to wind farms in operation

“…The animals tend to search for a calm, predator free environment for themselves and their calf (e.g., Pinard, Dussault, Ouellet, Fortin, & Courtois, ). Wild reindeer have been shown to avoid calving close to a road crossing (Panzacchi, Van Moorter, & Strand, ); however, they do not seem to avoid power‐line developments (Colman et al., ). Semi‐domesticated reindeer's selection of calving sites in relation to anthropogenic development is less well investigated, but there is evidence revealing female reindeer's avoidance of cabins (Skarin, Danell, Bergstrom, & Moen, ), WF construction areas (Skarin et al., ), power‐line construction (Eftestøl, Tsegaye, Flydal, & Colman, ), roads, and power‐lines (Vistnes & Nellemann, ) during the calving season.…”

Do High-Voltage Power Transmission Lines Affect Forest Landscape and Vegetation Growth: Evidence from a Case for Southeastern of China

“…(3) The forest edge experiences microclimatic changes, including increased evaporation, increased temperature, solar radiation enhancement, and soil moisture reduction [38]. (4) Some previous findings indicated that the strong electric fields generated from power lines impact human health [11], whereas others have revealed that the electric field may not be a disturbance for wild ungulates [16]. Though there are many applications of satellite imagery for vegetation growth near power lines [18], whether high-voltage magnetic fields and their electric fields affect NDVI is still unclear and requires further research.…”

“…In another study, calving site locations and area uses were compared during the calving period before, during, and after the construction of a power line in Norway. The findings indicated that power line disturbances do not cause avoidance effects for wild ungulates, whereas construction activities can induce a temporary reduction in area use [16]. Inspections of vegetation encroachment in the power line corridor have been conducted based on high spatial resolution hyperspectral imagery, satellite imagery, and LiDAR data [17,18] because vegetation growth plays a critical role in fire risk in power line corridors [19].…”