Coastal onshore wind turbines lead to habitat loss for bats in Northern Germany
Wind energy production is particularly rewarding along coastlines, yet coastlines are often important as migratory corridors for wildlife. This creates a conflict between energy production from renewable sources and conservation goals, which needs to be considered during environmental planning. To s...
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ftfuberlin:oai:refubium.fu-berlin.de:fub188/35324 2023-05-15T17:48:38+02:00 Coastal onshore wind turbines lead to habitat loss for bats in Northern Germany Reusch, Christine Lozar, Maja Kramer-Schadt, Stephanie Voigt, Christian C. 2022 8 Seiten application/pdf https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/35324 https://doi.org/10.17169/refubium-35040 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.114715 eng eng https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/35324 http://dx.doi.org/10.17169/refubium-35040 doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.114715 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ CC-BY Green-green-dilemma Bat fatalities Landscape management Biodiversity Climate change Energy transition ddc:570 doc-type:article 2022 ftfuberlin https://doi.org/10.17169/refubium-35040 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.114715 2022-06-26T22:23:08Z Wind energy production is particularly rewarding along coastlines, yet coastlines are often important as migratory corridors for wildlife. This creates a conflict between energy production from renewable sources and conservation goals, which needs to be considered during environmental planning. To shed light on the spatial interactions of a high collision risk bat species with coastal wind turbines (WT), we analysed 32 tracks of 11 common noctule bats (Nyctalus noctula) in Northern Germany with miniaturized global positioning system units yielding 6266 locations. We used three spatial models to infer on the preferred and avoided landscape features in interaction with WT. We found 3.4% of all locations close to WT, with bats preferring areas with high levels of impervious surface, identified as farmhouses. Common noctule bats were also more present close to WT adjacent to paths and waterbodies. At the local scale, >70% of common noctule bats avoided WT, yet if bats approached WT we counted more positions at large WT, specifically close to known roosts. Our study highlights that coastal WT should not be placed next to feeding grounds and bat roosts. Additionally, avoidance of WT by bats indicates that foraging bats may suffer from habitat loss in coastal landscapes with high turbine densities. To mitigate the conflict between wind energy power production and conservation goals at coastal sites, wind turbines should be placed at distance to habitat features preferred by bats and turbine densities should be limited. Article in Journal/Newspaper Nyctalus noctula Freie Universität Berlin: Refubium (FU Berlin) |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Freie Universität Berlin: Refubium (FU Berlin) |
op_collection_id |
ftfuberlin |
language |
English |
topic |
Green-green-dilemma Bat fatalities Landscape management Biodiversity Climate change Energy transition ddc:570 |
spellingShingle |
Green-green-dilemma Bat fatalities Landscape management Biodiversity Climate change Energy transition ddc:570 Reusch, Christine Lozar, Maja Kramer-Schadt, Stephanie Voigt, Christian C. Coastal onshore wind turbines lead to habitat loss for bats in Northern Germany |
topic_facet |
Green-green-dilemma Bat fatalities Landscape management Biodiversity Climate change Energy transition ddc:570 |
description |
Wind energy production is particularly rewarding along coastlines, yet coastlines are often important as migratory corridors for wildlife. This creates a conflict between energy production from renewable sources and conservation goals, which needs to be considered during environmental planning. To shed light on the spatial interactions of a high collision risk bat species with coastal wind turbines (WT), we analysed 32 tracks of 11 common noctule bats (Nyctalus noctula) in Northern Germany with miniaturized global positioning system units yielding 6266 locations. We used three spatial models to infer on the preferred and avoided landscape features in interaction with WT. We found 3.4% of all locations close to WT, with bats preferring areas with high levels of impervious surface, identified as farmhouses. Common noctule bats were also more present close to WT adjacent to paths and waterbodies. At the local scale, >70% of common noctule bats avoided WT, yet if bats approached WT we counted more positions at large WT, specifically close to known roosts. Our study highlights that coastal WT should not be placed next to feeding grounds and bat roosts. Additionally, avoidance of WT by bats indicates that foraging bats may suffer from habitat loss in coastal landscapes with high turbine densities. To mitigate the conflict between wind energy power production and conservation goals at coastal sites, wind turbines should be placed at distance to habitat features preferred by bats and turbine densities should be limited. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Reusch, Christine Lozar, Maja Kramer-Schadt, Stephanie Voigt, Christian C. |
author_facet |
Reusch, Christine Lozar, Maja Kramer-Schadt, Stephanie Voigt, Christian C. |
author_sort |
Reusch, Christine |
title |
Coastal onshore wind turbines lead to habitat loss for bats in Northern Germany |
title_short |
Coastal onshore wind turbines lead to habitat loss for bats in Northern Germany |
title_full |
Coastal onshore wind turbines lead to habitat loss for bats in Northern Germany |
title_fullStr |
Coastal onshore wind turbines lead to habitat loss for bats in Northern Germany |
title_full_unstemmed |
Coastal onshore wind turbines lead to habitat loss for bats in Northern Germany |
title_sort |
coastal onshore wind turbines lead to habitat loss for bats in northern germany |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/35324 https://doi.org/10.17169/refubium-35040 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.114715 |
genre |
Nyctalus noctula |
genre_facet |
Nyctalus noctula |
op_relation |
https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/35324 http://dx.doi.org/10.17169/refubium-35040 doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.114715 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.17169/refubium-35040 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.114715 |
_version_ |
1766154774059679744 |