TY - JOUR
T1 - Hotspots in the grid: Avian sensitivity and vulnerability to collision risk from energy infrastructure interactions in Europe and North Africa
AU - Gauld, Jethro G.
AU - Silva, João P.
AU - Atkinson, Phillip W.
AU - Record, Paul
AU - Acácio, Marta
AU - Arkumarev, Volen
AU - Blas, Julio
AU - Bouten, Willem
AU - Burton, Niall
AU - Catry, Inês
AU - Champagnon, Jocelyn
AU - Clewely, Gary D.
AU - Dagys, Mindaugas
AU - Duriez, Olivier
AU - Exo, Klaus-Michael
AU - Fiedler, Wolfgang
AU - Flack, Andrea
AU - Friedemann, Guilad
AU - Fritz, Johannes
AU - Garcia-Ripolles, Clara
AU - Garthe, Stefan
AU - Giunchi, Dimitri
AU - Grozdanov, Atanas
AU - Harel, Roi
AU - Humphreys, Elizabeth M.
AU - Monti, Flavio
AU - Janssen, René
AU - Kölzsch, Andrea
AU - Kulikova, Olga
AU - Lameris, Thomas K.
AU - López-López, Pascual
AU - Masden, Elizabeth A.
AU - Nathan, Ran
AU - Nikolov, Stoyan
AU - Oppel, Steffen
AU - Peshev, Hristo
AU - Phipps, Louis
AU - Pokrovsky, Ivan
AU - Ross-Smith, Viola H.
AU - Sariava, Victoria
AU - Scragg, Emily S.
AU - Sforzi, Andrea
AU - Stoynov, Emilian
AU - Thaxter, Chris
AU - van Steelant, Wouter
AU - van Toor, Mariëlle
AU - Vorneweg, Bernd
AU - Waldenström, Jonas
AU - Wilkelski, Martin
AU - Žydelis, Ramūnas
AU - Franco, Aldina M. A.
N1 - Funding information: Vultures back to LIFE - Bright Future for Black Vulture in Bulgaria LIFE projects. Grant Numbers: LIFE08 NAT/BG/000278, LIFE14 NAT/BG/000649; BAE Systems; FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology within the scope of the project. Grant Numbers: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006821, POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028176, UID/BIA/50027/2013; FEDER Funds through the Operational Competitiveness Factors Program - COMPETE; FlySafe; German Aerospace Centre (DLR). Grant Number: ICARUS; German Air and Space Administration (DLR); Horizon 2020 Framework Programme. Grant Number: No 727922 (Delta-Flu); LIFE+ project “Reason for Hope”. Grant Number: LIFE+12-BIO_AT_000143; Marine Renewable Energy and the Environment (MaREE) project; Max-Planck Institute of Animal Behavior; Natural England; NERC Env-East DPT
NEXUSS CDT. Grant Numbers: BSF 255/2008, DIP-DFG NA 846/1-1; Niedersächsische Wattenmeerstiftung. Grant Number: NWS 04/09; NWO (Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research). Grant Number: NPP 866.13.010; The Return of the Neophron and Egyptian Vulture New LIFE. Grant Numbers: LIFE10 NAT/BG/000152, LIFE16 NAT/BG/000874; Tuscan Archipelago National Park. Grant Numbers: BSF 255/2008, DIP-DFG NA 846/1-1; UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment (OESEA) research programme; Whitley Fund for Nature, Project: Saving the Balkans’ last vultures: introducing Vulture Safe Areas as a model for scavenger conservation in the Anthropocene. Grant Number: LIFE14 NAT/BG/000649
PY - 2022/6
Y1 - 2022/6
N2 - Wind turbines and power lines can cause bird mortality due to collision or electrocution. The biodiversity impacts of energy infrastructure (EI) can be minimised through effective landscape-scale planning and mitigation. The identification of high-vulnerability areas is urgently needed to assess potential cumulative impacts of EI while supporting the transition to zero carbon energy. We collected GPS location data from 1,454 birds from 27 species susceptible to collision within Europe and North Africa and identified areas where tracked birds are most at risk of colliding with existing EI. Sensitivity to EI development was estimated for wind turbines and power lines by calculating the proportion of GPS flight locations at heights where birds were at risk of collision and accounting for species' specific susceptibility to collision. We mapped the maximum collision sensitivity value obtained across all species, in each 5 × 5 km grid cell, across Europe and North Africa. Vulnerability to collision was obtained by overlaying the sensitivity surfaces with density of wind turbines and transmission power lines. Results: Exposure to risk varied across the 27 species, with some species flying consistently at heights where they risk collision. For areas with sufficient tracking data within Europe and North Africa, 13.6% of the area was classified as high sensitivity to wind turbines and 9.4% was classified as high sensitivity to transmission power lines. Sensitive areas were concentrated within important migratory corridors and along coastlines. Hotspots of vulnerability to collision with wind turbines and transmission power lines (2018 data) were scattered across the study region with highest concentrations occurring in central Europe, near the strait of Gibraltar and the Bosporus in Turkey. Synthesis and applications. We identify the areas of Europe and North Africa that are most sensitive for the specific populations of birds for which sufficient GPS tracking data at high spatial resolution were available. We also map vulnerability hotspots where mitigation at existing EI should be prioritised to reduce collision risks. As tracking data availability improves our method could be applied to more species and areas to help reduce bird-EI conflicts.
AB - Wind turbines and power lines can cause bird mortality due to collision or electrocution. The biodiversity impacts of energy infrastructure (EI) can be minimised through effective landscape-scale planning and mitigation. The identification of high-vulnerability areas is urgently needed to assess potential cumulative impacts of EI while supporting the transition to zero carbon energy. We collected GPS location data from 1,454 birds from 27 species susceptible to collision within Europe and North Africa and identified areas where tracked birds are most at risk of colliding with existing EI. Sensitivity to EI development was estimated for wind turbines and power lines by calculating the proportion of GPS flight locations at heights where birds were at risk of collision and accounting for species' specific susceptibility to collision. We mapped the maximum collision sensitivity value obtained across all species, in each 5 × 5 km grid cell, across Europe and North Africa. Vulnerability to collision was obtained by overlaying the sensitivity surfaces with density of wind turbines and transmission power lines. Results: Exposure to risk varied across the 27 species, with some species flying consistently at heights where they risk collision. For areas with sufficient tracking data within Europe and North Africa, 13.6% of the area was classified as high sensitivity to wind turbines and 9.4% was classified as high sensitivity to transmission power lines. Sensitive areas were concentrated within important migratory corridors and along coastlines. Hotspots of vulnerability to collision with wind turbines and transmission power lines (2018 data) were scattered across the study region with highest concentrations occurring in central Europe, near the strait of Gibraltar and the Bosporus in Turkey. Synthesis and applications. We identify the areas of Europe and North Africa that are most sensitive for the specific populations of birds for which sufficient GPS tracking data at high spatial resolution were available. We also map vulnerability hotspots where mitigation at existing EI should be prioritised to reduce collision risks. As tracking data availability improves our method could be applied to more species and areas to help reduce bird-EI conflicts.
KW - animal movement
KW - bird conservation
KW - collision risk
KW - environmental impact assessment
KW - GPS
KW - renewable energy
KW - spatial planning
KW - telemetry
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85128335440&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/1365-2664.14160
DO - 10.1111/1365-2664.14160
M3 - Article
VL - 59
SP - 1496
EP - 1512
JO - Journal of Applied Ecology
JF - Journal of Applied Ecology
SN - 0021-8901
IS - 6
ER -