Factors associated with bat mortality at wind energy facilities in the United States

Thompson, M. M.; Beston, Julie A.; Etterson, Matthew A.; Diffendorfer, James E.; Loss, Scott R.

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2017.09.014

Cited by 35 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Our data could not be used to isolate the causes of the trends we observed, and wind energy is not the only source of anthropogenic mortality for our study species (O'Shea et al 2016). Nevertheless, a precautionary approach to bat conservation would minimize mortality of bats at wind turbines (Rydell et al 2010b;Zimmerling & Francis 2016;Thompson et al 2017). Increasing cutin speed of turbines decreased the number of bats killed by turbines in our study, consistent with previous studies (Baerwald et al 2009;Arnett et al 2011bArnett et al , 2016Martin et al 2017), but did not prevent mortality.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

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Estimation of spatiotemporal trends in bat abundance from mortality data collected at wind turbines

Davy

Squires

Zimmerling

2020

Conservation Biology

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Renewable energy sources, such as wind energy, are essential tools for reducing the causes of climate change, but wind turbines can pose a collision risk for bats. To date, the population-level effects of wind-related mortality have been estimated for only 1 bat species. To estimate temporal trends in bat abundance, we considered wind turbines as opportunistic sampling tools for flying bats (analogous to fishing nets), where catch per unit effort (carcass abundance per monitored turbine) is a proxy for aerial abundance of bats, after accounting for seasonal variation in activity. We used a large, standardized data set of records of bat carcasses from 594 turbines in southern Ontario, Canada, and corrected these data to account for surveyor efficiency and scavenger removal. We used Bayesian hierarchical models to estimate temporal trends in aerial abundance of bats and to explore the effect of spatial factors, including landscape features associated with bat habitat (e.g., wetlands, croplands, and forested lands), on the number of mortalities for each species. The models showed a rapid decline in the abundance of 4 species in our study area; declines in capture of carcasses over 7 years ranged from 65% (big brown bat [Eptesicus fuscus]) to 91% (silver-haired bat [Lasionycteris noctivagans]). Estimated declines were independent of the effects of mitigation (increasing wind speed at which turbines begin to generate electricity from 3.5 to 5.5 m/s), which significantly reduced but did not eliminate bat mortality. Late-summer mortality of hoary (Lasiurus cinereus), eastern red (Lasiurus borealis), and silver-haired bats was predicted by woodlot cover, and mortality of big brown bats decreased with increasing elevation. These landscape predictors of bat mortality can inform the siting of future wind energy operations. Our most important result is the apparent decline in abundance of four common species of bat in the airspace, which requires further investigation.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…2010b; Zimmerling & Francis 2016; Thompson et al. 2017). Increasing cut‐in speed of turbines decreased the number of bats killed by turbines in our study, consistent with previous studies (Baerwald et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimation of spatiotemporal trends in bat abundance from mortality data collected at wind turbines

Davy

Squires

Zimmerling

2020

Conservation Biology

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“…Santos et al (2013) found that mortality probabilities decreased with the distance to eucalyptus forests. Other studies showed that open habitats such as prairies, pastures and croplands triggered fewer collisions than closed habitats such as forests (Bolívar-Cimé et al, 2016;Piorkowski and O'Connell, 2010;Thompson et al, 2017). Piorkowski and O'Connell (2010) found more fatalities in ravine topography than in low topography relief and Santos et al (2013) found that distance to the slope was negatively correlated with mortality risks.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Influence of landscape and time of year on bat-wind turbines collision risks

et al. 2019

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“…Although there are obvious benefits to applying such strategies, mitigation aimed to offset the ultimate mechanisms leading to bat fatalities would likely be more effective [6]. One of the proposed hypotheses for bat fatalities at wind turbines is that wind energy facilities, or perhaps even individual turbines, are sited in areas that provide resources for bats [7][8][9]. Thus, if bats are in proximity to turbines because of existing resources in the wind energy facility, then pre-construction surveys that aim to identify areas suitable for bats could be used to effectively reduce bat fatalities simply by informing wind turbine siting to avoid such resource-rich areas [9,10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resource Availability May Not Be a Useful Predictor of Migratory Bat Fatalities or Activity at Wind Turbines

Bennett

Hale

2018

Diversity

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A better understanding of the ultimate mechanisms driving bat fatalities at wind turbines (i.e., the reason why bats are coming in close proximity to wind turbines) could inform more effective impact reduction strategies. One hypothesis is that bats come into close proximity to turbines due to existing resources (e.g., roosting sites) in the immediate area. Thus, if resource hotspots for bats could be identified in areas proposed for wind energy development, then fatalities could be reduced by siting turbines away from such hotspots. To explore this, we conducted a resource mapping exercise at a 48 km 2 wind energy facility in north-central Texas. We mapped known resources (such as water sources, roosting sites, foraging sites, and commuting routes) for the 6 bat species present and compared resource availability with observed fatalities and acoustic activity. Although resource mapping identified concentrations of known resources for all species, it did not predict bat activity or fatalities. For example, Lasiurus cinereus and Lasiurus borealis comprised >90% of the fatalities, yet we found no positive relationship between resource availability and fatalities or acoustic activity for either species. Furthermore, up to 33% of these fatalities occurred at turbines without known resources within 200 m of the turbines, demonstrating that the fine-scale distribution of resources may not effectively inform turbine siting for these two migratory species. The challenge, therefore, remains to determine why bats during the migratory season are coming in close proximity with wind turbines.

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Factors associated with bat mortality at wind energy facilities in the United States

Cited by 35 publications

References 21 publications

Estimation of spatiotemporal trends in bat abundance from mortality data collected at wind turbines

Estimation of spatiotemporal trends in bat abundance from mortality data collected at wind turbines

Influence of landscape and time of year on bat-wind turbines collision risks

Resource Availability May Not Be a Useful Predictor of Migratory Bat Fatalities or Activity at Wind Turbines

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