Wildlife and infrastructure: impact of wind turbines on bats in the Black Sea coast region

Măntoiu, Dragoş Ştefan; Kravchenko, Kseniia; Lehnert, Linn Sophia; Vlaschenko, Anton; Moldovan, Oana Teodora; Mirea, Ionuţ Cornel; Stanciu, Răzvan Cătălin; Zaharia, Răzvan; Popescu-Mirceni, R.; Nistorescu, Marius Costin; Voigt, Christian C.

doi:10.1007/s10344-020-01378-x

Cited by 20 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Martin et al 2017), the most effective mitigation scheme is to increase the cut‐in speed, i.e. the wind speed at which WTs start to operate and produce energy, during critical environmental conditions (Arnett et al 2011, Brinkmann et al 2011, Mantoiu et al 2020). However, comparing acoustic data with independent methods, such as visual surveys (videography), shows that only about 30 to 50% of the independently documented bat passes are also recorded by AUDs (Cryan et al 2014, Gorresen et al 2017, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Limitations of acoustic monitoring at wind turbines to evaluate fatality risk of bats

Voigt

Russo

Runkel³

et al. 2021

Mammal Review

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Wind turbines (WTs) frequently kill bats worldwide. During environmental impact assessments, consultant ecologists often use automated ultrasonic detectors (AUDs) to estimate the activity and identity of bats in the zone of highest mortality risk at WTs in order to formulate mitigation schemes, such as increased curtailment speeds to prevent casualties. While acknowledging the potential of acoustic monitoring, we evaluate the limitations of AUDs for monitoring bats at WTs and highlight directions for future research. We show that geometric attenuation and atmospheric attenuation of ultrasonic echolocation calls, in conjunction with limited sensitivity of ultrasonic microphones, severely constrain detection distances of bats at WTs. Taking into account the acoustic shadow produced by the nacelle, AUDs cover only approximately 23% of the risk zone for a bat calling at 20 kHz and 4% for a bat calling at 40 kHz, assuming a 60 m blade length. This percentage will further decrease with increasing blade lengths in modern WTs. Additionally, the directionality of echolocation calls and the dynamic flight behaviour of bats constrain the detectability of bats. If a call can be detected, the low interspecific and high intraspecific variation of echolocation call characteristics may impair species identification, limiting the power to predict population‐level effects of fatalities. We conclude that technical, physical, and biological factors severely constrain acoustic monitoring in its current form. We suggest the use of several AUDs, installed at complementary sites at WTs, and the testing of other techniques, such as radar, cameras, and thermal imaging, to inform stakeholders on the mortality risk of bats at WTs.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Limitations of acoustic monitoring at wind turbines to evaluate fatality risk of bats

Voigt

Russo

Runkel³

et al. 2021

Mammal Review

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“…The exact number of bat fatalities at wind turbines is currently unknown. Estimates obtained from systematic environmental impact assessments that control for scavenger removal and searcher inefficiency suggest that a single turbine may lead to 2–30 bat fatalities per year if no mitigation scheme is implemented (Brinkmann et al, 2011; Korner‐Nievergelt et al, 2013; Măntoiu et al, 2020). This may add up to hundreds of thousands of bats killed per year in countries with high wind energy production, such as Germany (Fritze et al, 2019; Voigt et al, 2015b) and the United States (Cryan & Barclay, 2009; Hayes, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High vulnerability of juvenileNathusius' pipistrelle bats (Pipistrellus nathusii) at wind turbines

Kruszynski

Bailey

Bach³

et al. 2022

Ecological Applications

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Large numbers of bats are killed by wind turbines globally, yet the specific demographic consequences of wind turbine mortality are still unclear. In this study, we compared characteristics of Nathusius' pipistrelles (Pipistrellus nathusii) killed at wind turbines (N = 119) to those observed within the live population (N = 524) during the summer migration period in Germany. We used generalized linear mixed‐effects modeling to identify demographic groups most vulnerable to wind turbine mortality, including sex (female or male), age (adult or juvenile), and geographic origin (regional or long‐distance migrant; depicted by fur stable hydrogen isotope ratios). Juveniles contributed with a higher proportion of carcasses at wind turbines than expected given their frequency in the live population suggesting that juvenile bats may be particularly vulnerable to wind turbine mortality. This effect varied with wind turbine density. Specifically, at low wind turbine densities, representing mostly inland areas with water bodies and forests where Nathusius' pipistrelles breed, juveniles were found more often dead beneath turbines than expected based on their abundance in the live population. At high wind turbine densities, representing mostly coastal areas where Nathusius' pipistrelles migrate, adults and juveniles were equally vulnerable. We found no evidence of increased vulnerability to wind turbines in either sex, yet we observed a higher proportion of females than males among both carcasses and the live population, which may reflect a female bias in the live population most likely caused by females migrating from their northeastern breeding areas migrating into Germany. A high mortality of females is conservation concern for this migratory bat species because it affects the annual reproduction rate of populations. A distant origin did not influence the likelihood of getting killed at wind turbines. A disproportionately high vulnerability of juveniles to wind turbine mortality may reduce juvenile recruitment, which may limit the resilience of Nathusius' pipistrelles to environmental stressors such as climate change or habitat loss. Schemes to mitigate wind turbine mortality, such as elevated cut‐in speeds, should be implemented throughout Europe to prevent population declines of Nathusius' pipistrelles and other migratory bats.

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“…The development of infrastructure for renewable energy production is regarded as a threat to protected areas; moreover, wind energy farms can significantly impact biota where large-scale systems are developed ( Schulze et al, 2018 ). Threats to biota from wind energy farm development typically include increased mortality of birds and bats, alteration of habitats and landscapes, and increased noise ( Kuvlesky Jr et al, 2007 ; Katsaprakakis, 2012 ; Gasparatos et al, 2017 ; Măntoiu et al, 2020 ), while immediate and long-term effects on plant species are less studied ( Silva & Passos, 2017 ; Nita, 2019 ). However, research on the impact of wind energy farms on plant species is gaining traction.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Even though Dobrogea has a considerable amount of wind towers in and out of protected areas, few published studies have investigated their impact on biodiversity. For instance, Măntoiu et al (2020) demonstrated that even a minor wind energy farm of 20 wind towers could trigger high bat mortality in the absence of adequate conservation measures. To the best of our knowledge, the only study investigating the impact of wind energy towers on plant species biodiversity in Romania concluded that in the Mehedinti Mountains (SW Romania) there are no significant differences between grassland communities nearby wind towers and those situated 300 m away from towers ( Pătru-Stupariu et al, 2019 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Local-scale impact of wind energy farms on rare, endemic, and threatened plant species

Urziceanu

Anastasiu

Rozyłowicz

et al. 2021

PeerJ

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Background Wind energy farms have become a popular solution to produce green energy worldwide. Their development within protected areas has increased dramatically in the past decade, and the effects on the rare, endemic and threatened plant species (i.e., protected plant species), essential for habitat conservation and management, are little known. Only a few studies directly quantify the impacts of wind energy farms on them. Our study analyzes the impact of wind energy farms on rare, endemic, and threatened plant species in steppic habitats and their recovery potential over a ten-year period on a wind energy farm within the Dealurile Agighiolului Natura 2000 site (Dobrogea Region, SE Romania). Methods We surveyed the rare, endemic, and threatened plant species within a radius of approximately 50 m around each of the 17 wind towers during the wind farm operational phase. We selected 34 plots to allow the investigation of two types of areas: (1) a disturbed area overlapping the technological platform, where the vegetation was removed before construction, and (2) an adjacent undisturbed area. To understand the effects of the wind energy farm on the rare, endemic, and threatened plant species diversity and the differences between the disturbed and undisturbed areas, we calculated under both conditions: (1) plant species richness; (2) sample-size-based rarefaction and extrapolation with Hill numbers parameterized by species richness; (3) non-metric multidimensional scaling of Jaccard dissimilarity index; (4) functional diversity; (5) beta-diversity (including replacement and nestedness of species). Results As a result of the disturbances caused by the wind energy farm’s development, we identified a sharp contrast between the diversity of rare, endemic, and threatened plants inhabiting disturbed and undisturbed areas near the wind towers. Our research showed that less than 40% of the total inventoried rare, endemic, and threatened species colonized the disturbed sites. Species turnover within undisturbed plots was higher than disturbed plots, implying that the plant community’s heterogeneity was high. However, a higher richness in rare, endemic, and threatened plant species was found in the plots around the wind towers in grasslands of primary type. Sample-size-based rarefaction and extrapolation with Hill numbers by observed species richness indicated an accurate estimation of species richness in disturbed habitats, demonstrating that recovery after wind energy farm construction was incomplete after ten years of low-intensity plant restoration and conservation activities. Thus, we consider that operating activities must be reconfigured to allow the complete recovery of the communities with rare, endemic, and threatened plant species.

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Wildlife and infrastructure: impact of wind turbines on bats in the Black Sea coast region

Cited by 20 publications

References 44 publications

Limitations of acoustic monitoring at wind turbines to evaluate fatality risk of bats

Limitations of acoustic monitoring at wind turbines to evaluate fatality risk of bats

High vulnerability of juvenileNathusius' pipistrelle bats (Pipistrellus nathusii) at wind turbines

Local-scale impact of wind energy farms on rare, endemic, and threatened plant species

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