Habitat use of bats in relation to wind turbines revealed by GPS tracking
Worldwide, many countries aim at countering global climate change by promoting renewable energy. Yet, recent studies highlight that so-called green energy, such as wind energy, may come at environmental costs, for example when wind turbines kill birds and bats. Using miniaturized GPS loggers, we stu...
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ftleibnizopen:oai:oai.leibnizopen.de:aUmdqIgBdbrxVwz6N2Jz 2023-07-02T03:33:18+02:00 Habitat use of bats in relation to wind turbines revealed by GPS tracking Roeleke, Manuel Blohm, Torsten Kramer-Schadt, Stephanie Yovel, Yossi Voigt, Christian 2016 https://repository.publisso.de/resource/frl:6402584 https://doi.org/10.1038/srep28961 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4931514/ https://www.nature.com/articles/srep28961#supplementary-information eng eng CC BY 4.0 Scientific reports, 6:28961 Animal behaviour Behavioural ecology Conservation biology 2016 ftleibnizopen https://doi.org/10.1038/srep28961 2023-06-11T23:20:20Z Worldwide, many countries aim at countering global climate change by promoting renewable energy. Yet, recent studies highlight that so-called green energy, such as wind energy, may come at environmental costs, for example when wind turbines kill birds and bats. Using miniaturized GPS loggers, we studied how an open-space foraging bat with high collision risk with wind turbines, the common noctule Nyctalus noctula (Schreber, 1774), interacts with wind turbines. We compared actual flight trajectories to correlated random walks to identify habitat variables explaining the movements of bats. Both sexes preferred wetlands but used conventionally managed cropland less than expected based on availability. During midsummer, females traversed the land on relatively long flight paths and repeatedly came close to wind turbines. Their flight heights above ground suggested a high risk of colliding with wind turbines. In contrast, males recorded in early summer commuted straight between roosts and foraging areas and overall flew lower than the operating range of most turbine blades, suggesting a lower collision risk. Flight heights of bats suggest that during summer the risk of collision with wind turbines was high for most studied bats at the majority of currently installed wind turbines. For siting of wind parks, preferred bat habitats and commuting routes should be identified and avoided. Other/Unknown Material Nyctalus noctula LeibnizOpen (The Leibniz Association) Scientific Reports 6 1 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
LeibnizOpen (The Leibniz Association) |
op_collection_id |
ftleibnizopen |
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English |
topic |
Animal behaviour Behavioural ecology Conservation biology |
spellingShingle |
Animal behaviour Behavioural ecology Conservation biology Roeleke, Manuel Blohm, Torsten Kramer-Schadt, Stephanie Yovel, Yossi Voigt, Christian Habitat use of bats in relation to wind turbines revealed by GPS tracking |
topic_facet |
Animal behaviour Behavioural ecology Conservation biology |
description |
Worldwide, many countries aim at countering global climate change by promoting renewable energy. Yet, recent studies highlight that so-called green energy, such as wind energy, may come at environmental costs, for example when wind turbines kill birds and bats. Using miniaturized GPS loggers, we studied how an open-space foraging bat with high collision risk with wind turbines, the common noctule Nyctalus noctula (Schreber, 1774), interacts with wind turbines. We compared actual flight trajectories to correlated random walks to identify habitat variables explaining the movements of bats. Both sexes preferred wetlands but used conventionally managed cropland less than expected based on availability. During midsummer, females traversed the land on relatively long flight paths and repeatedly came close to wind turbines. Their flight heights above ground suggested a high risk of colliding with wind turbines. In contrast, males recorded in early summer commuted straight between roosts and foraging areas and overall flew lower than the operating range of most turbine blades, suggesting a lower collision risk. Flight heights of bats suggest that during summer the risk of collision with wind turbines was high for most studied bats at the majority of currently installed wind turbines. For siting of wind parks, preferred bat habitats and commuting routes should be identified and avoided. |
author |
Roeleke, Manuel Blohm, Torsten Kramer-Schadt, Stephanie Yovel, Yossi Voigt, Christian |
author_facet |
Roeleke, Manuel Blohm, Torsten Kramer-Schadt, Stephanie Yovel, Yossi Voigt, Christian |
author_sort |
Roeleke, Manuel |
title |
Habitat use of bats in relation to wind turbines revealed by GPS tracking |
title_short |
Habitat use of bats in relation to wind turbines revealed by GPS tracking |
title_full |
Habitat use of bats in relation to wind turbines revealed by GPS tracking |
title_fullStr |
Habitat use of bats in relation to wind turbines revealed by GPS tracking |
title_full_unstemmed |
Habitat use of bats in relation to wind turbines revealed by GPS tracking |
title_sort |
habitat use of bats in relation to wind turbines revealed by gps tracking |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://repository.publisso.de/resource/frl:6402584 https://doi.org/10.1038/srep28961 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4931514/ https://www.nature.com/articles/srep28961#supplementary-information |
genre |
Nyctalus noctula |
genre_facet |
Nyctalus noctula |
op_source |
Scientific reports, 6:28961 |
op_rights |
CC BY 4.0 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/srep28961 |
container_title |
Scientific Reports |
container_volume |
6 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1770273183052595200 |