Windkraft im Wald und Fledermausschutz – Überblick über den Kenntnisstand und geeignete Erfassungsmethoden und Maßnahmen

Hurst, Johanna; Biedermann, Martin; Dietz, Christian; Dietz, Markus; Reers, Hendrik; Karst, Inken; Petermann, Ruth; Schorcht, Wigbert; Brinkmann, Robert

doi:10.1007/978-3-662-61454-9_2

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Thus far, it is largely unknown how wind turbines in forests affect forest‐associated bats. Although not at high risk of colliding with turbine rotors, forest specialist bats foraging below the canopy may be impacted by indirect wind turbine effects (Hurst et al, 2020). For instance, studies in open landscapes documented a reduced bat activity close to wind turbines compared to control sites without turbines, suggesting an avoidance behaviour and an indirect habitat loss for several species (Millon et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The underlying cause for this avoidance remains unclear, but bats may respond to turbine‐generated noise (Allen et al, 2021; Finch et al, 2020) or potentially to artificial light (Bennett & Hale, 2014). Turbine construction in forests is further accompanied by fragmentation and degradation (Lesiński et al, 2007), while the creation of clearings and aisles is leading to a loss of foraging habitats and daytime roosts in trees (Hurst et al, 2020). However, forest fragmentation may also lead to increased activity of those bats which are more adapted to open and edge habitats and to an increased collision risk for these species at forest wind turbines (Kirkpatrick et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Activity of forest specialist bats decreases towards wind turbines at forest sites

Ellerbrok

Delius

Peter

et al. 2022

Journal of Applied Ecology

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Worldwide, wind turbines are increasingly being built at forest sites to meet the goals of national climate strategies. Yet, the impact on biodiversity is barely understood. Bats may be heavily affected by wind turbines in forests, because many species depend on forest ecosystems for roosting and hunting and can experience high fatality rates at wind turbines. We performed acoustic surveys in 24 temperate forests in the low mountain ranges of Central Germany to monitor changes in the acoustic activity of bats in relation to wind turbine proximity, rotor size, vegetation structure and season. Call sequences were identified and assigned to one of three functional guilds: open‐space, edge‐space and narrow‐space foragers, the latter being mainly forest specialists. Based on the response behaviour of bats towards wind turbines in open landscapes, we predicted decreasing bat activity towards wind turbines at forest sites, especially for narrow‐space foragers. Vertical vegetation heterogeneity had a strong positive effect on all bats, yet responses to wind turbines in forests varied across foraging guilds. Activity of narrow‐space foragers decreased towards turbines over distances of several hundred metres, especially towards turbines with large rotors and during mid‐summer months. The activity of edge‐space foragers did not change with distance to turbines or season, whereas the activity of open‐space foragers increased close to turbines in late summer. Synthesis and applications. Forest specialist bats avoid wind turbines in forests over distances of several hundred metres. This avoidance was most apparent towards turbines with large rotors. Since forests are an important habitat for these bats, we advise to exclude forests with diverse vegetation structure as potential wind turbine sites and to consider compensation measures to account for habitat degradation associated with the operation of wind turbines in forests.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Activity of forest specialist bats decreases towards wind turbines at forest sites

Ellerbrok

Delius

Peter

et al. 2022

Journal of Applied Ecology

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“…The striking differences between the two studies can be attributed to several factors: First, both bat activity levels and species number seem to be lower at SWT sites in Northern Germany than at those in other regions in Germany, where a larger number of acoustic recordings have been documented using the same technical settings [ 25 , 26 ]. Whereas Nyctaloids, especially E .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Collision risk of bats with small wind turbines: Worst-case scenarios near roosts, commuting and hunting structures

Hartmann

Hochradel

Greule³

et al. 2021

PLoS ONE

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Small wind turbines (SWTs) have become increasingly common within the last decade, but their impact on wildlife, especially bats, is largely unknown. We conducted an operational experiment by sequentially placing a mobile SWT with five different operational modes at six sites of high bat activity, including roosts, commuting structures, and highly frequented hunting areas. Bat flight trajectories around the SWT were documented at each site during five consecutive nights using a specifically designed high-spatial-resolution 3D camera. The recordings showed high bat activity levels close to the SWT (7,065 flight trajectories within a 10-m radius). The minimum distance to the rotor of each trajectory varied between 0 and 18 m, with a mean of 4.6 m across all sites. Linear mixed models created to account for site differences showed that, compared to a reference pole without a SWT, bats flew 0.4 m closer to the rotor (95% CI 0.3–0.6 m) if it was out of operation and 0.3 m closer (95% CI 0.1–0.4 m) if it was moving slowly. Exploratory behavior was frequently observed, with many bats deviating from their original flight trajectory to approach the rotor. Among 7,850 documented trajectories, 176 crossed the rotor, including 65 while it was in motion. The collision of one P. pygmaeus individual occurred during the experiment. These results demonstrate that, despite the generally strong ability of bats to evade moving rotor blades, bat casualties at SWTs placed at sites of high bat activity can reach or exceed the current threshold levels set for large wind turbines. As SWTs provide less energy than large turbines, their negative impact on bats should be minimized by avoidance measures such as a bat-friendly site selection or curtailment algorithms.

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“…What happens when rotor diameters increase but turbine height does not and, in consequence, rotor tips reach closer to the ground? Answers could be drawn from detailed information on the vertical distribution of bats which is, so far, available from studies at meteorological towers and cranes (Hurst et al 2017, Roemer et al 2017, Wellig et al 2018) -we suggest that the vertical distribution of bats at wind turbines should be a future focus in research. Voigt et al (2021) present a schematic concept on the effect of the vertical distribution of bats on their detectability by recorders installed in the nacelle (fig.…”

Section: Standardised and Referenced Acoustic Surveys Allow For A Rel...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One reason is that bat activity in the detection range of a microphone installed below the turbine nacelle is much higher than the average in the entire rotor‐swept zone, resulting in adequate information to estimate the number of collisions. The reasons for this are, at least in Europe, the decrease in the total activity of all species with the height above ground (Hurst et al 2017, Wellig et al 2018, Bach et al 2020), and the concentration of bats around the nacelle as compared to in free air space at the same height (Cryan et al 2014, Behr et al 2015). However, more important than detection range are the standardisation and referencing of acoustic recordings to infer collisions from bat activity at the nacelle (e.g.…”

Section: Recorder Sensitivity and Detection Rangementioning

confidence: 99%

Standardised and referenced acoustic monitoring reliably estimates bat fatalities at wind turbines: comments on ‘Limitations of acoustic monitoring at wind turbines to evaluate fatality risk of bats’

Behr¹,

Barré

Bontadina

et al. 2023

Mammal Review

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Voigt et al. (2021) provide a thorough analysis of the restrictions inherent to the estimation of bat abundance from acoustic surveys, and conclude that limitations of acoustic monitoring impede the reliable evaluation of bat fatalities at wind turbines. We argue that acoustic data recorded at the nacelle of wind turbines have been experimentally validated as a useful and appropriate measure of bat collisions. Therefore, acoustic data can be used to estimate bat fatalities at wind turbines, provided a referenced and standardised protocol for data acquisition and analysis is used. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG IN DEUTSCHVoigt et al. (2021) zeigen in einer detaillierten Analyse Einschränkungen auf, die sich für die Bestimmung von Fledermausabundanz auf der Grundlage akustischer Erfassungen ergeben, und kommen zu dem Schluss, dass diese Einschränkungen keine zuverlässige Bewertung der an Windkraftanlagen versterbenden Fledermäuse erlauben. Wir argumentieren, dass in Experimenten validiert wurde, dass an der Gondel von Windenergieanlagen aufgezeichnete akustische Daten ein nützliches und geeignetes Maß für Fledermausschlagopfer sind. Daher können akustische Daten zur Abschätzung an Windenergieanlagen zu Tode kommender Fledermäuse verwendet werden, vorausgesetzt, es wird ein referenziertes und standardisiertes Protokoll für die Datenerfassung und -analyse verwendet.

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Windkraft im Wald und Fledermausschutz – Überblick über den Kenntnisstand und geeignete Erfassungsmethoden und Maßnahmen

Cited by 5 publications

References 16 publications

Activity of forest specialist bats decreases towards wind turbines at forest sites

Activity of forest specialist bats decreases towards wind turbines at forest sites

Collision risk of bats with small wind turbines: Worst-case scenarios near roosts, commuting and hunting structures

Standardised and referenced acoustic monitoring reliably estimates bat fatalities at wind turbines: comments on ‘Limitations of acoustic monitoring at wind turbines to evaluate fatality risk of bats’

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