Although labeled
as environmentally friendly, wind power can have
negative impacts on the environment, such as habitat destruction or
wildlife fatalities. Considering the distribution and migratory characteristics
of European bats, the negative effects of wind power should be addressed
on an appropriate scale. This review summarizes the current state
of knowledge on interactions between wind farms and bats in Europe,
and compares it with the situation in the countries of the European
boreal biogeographic region. We analyzed data from papers published
in international and national scientific journals, focusing on studies
conducted in Europe. The issue of the impacts wind power has on bats
is clearly overlooked in most of the countries of the European boreal
region, with low volumes of research available on the topic. This
is probably due to fewer wind farms in the area, making this recent
issue a less-prioritized topic. However, the Baltic Sea, and the countries
surrounding it, are of extreme importance with regards to bat migration,
especially for the
Pipistrellus nathusii
. Therefore,
more research on wind power and bats is needed in this region, as
well as more cooperation between all the stakeholders.
The presence of poorly sited wind farms raises concerns for wildlife, including birds of prey. Therefore, there is a need to extend the knowledge of the potential human-wildlife conflicts associated with wind energy. Here, we report on the movements and habitat use of postfledging satellite-tagged white-tailed eagles in Finland, where wind-energy development is expected to increase in the near future. In particular, we examine the probability of a fledgling approaching a hypothetical turbine that is placed at different distances from the nest. We found that this probability is high at short distances but considerably decreases with increasing distances to the nest. A utilisation-availability analysis showed that the coast was the preferred habitat. We argue that avoiding construction between active nests and the shoreline, as well as adopting the currently 2-km buffer zone for turbine deployment, can avoid or minimise potential impacts on post-fledging white-tailed eagles.
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