Laboratory of Applied Ecology, CITAB - Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environment and Biological Sciences, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, 5000-911, Vila Real, Portugal; Curtir Ciência - Centro Ciência Viva de Guimarães, Rua da Ramada, N.° 166, 4810-555, Guimarães, Portugal.
Laboratory of Applied Ecology, CITAB - Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environment and Biological Sciences, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, 5000-911, Vila Real, Portugal; Curtir Ciência - Centro Ciência Viva de Guimarães, Rua da Ramada, N.° 166, 4810-555, Guimarães, Portugal.
J Environ Manage. 2019 May 15;238:283-295. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.02.127. Epub 2019 Mar 7.
The growing concern about future challenges of energy security and climate change has led to the expansion of renewable energy production, with a special emphasis on wind power. Despite the environmental advantages of wind power, it's important to assess the impacts caused by the presence of wind farms on wildlife, particularly on species also affected by habitat loss and degradation. In Mediterranean Europe, the skylark (Alauda arvensis) is a declining passerine that breeds in mountain habitats vulnerable to the abandonment of traditional management practices and climate change. We have created a spatially explicit agent-based model (ABM) in order to replicate the selection of territories, evaluating the effect of wind farms on the mortality rate of breeding males. We were especially interested in assessing the mortality rates related with the interplay between habitat loss due to socio-ecological change and increasing wind power using alternative strategies: adding wind turbines or substituting existing wind turbines by more powerful ones, i.e. repowering. Several known aspects related with the risk of collision of A. arvensis with wind turbines were considered, particularly regarding the male habitat selection and behaviour displayed throughout the breeding season. By simulating a sequential contraction of suitable habitat for the species, we found a substantial increase in the breeding territories superimposed to the wind farm influence zone. In these conditions males' relative mortality was predicted to suffer significant increases. For equivalent wind power, adding wind turbines produced significant increases in the males' relative mortality, whereas repowering didn't. Based on our findings we propose repowering as a defensible strategy to increase wind energy production without increasing A. arvensis collision risk. We highlight that this strategy might also benefit other vulnerable bird and bat species associated with declining habitats of mountain ridges in the Mediterranean region.
对能源安全和气候变化未来挑战的日益关注，促使可再生能源生产得到了扩展，尤其是风力发电。尽管风力发电具有环境优势，但评估风力发电场对野生动物的影响，特别是对那些受到栖息地丧失和退化影响的物种的影响，是很重要的。在欧洲地中海地区，云雀（Alauda arvensis）是一种数量下降的鸣禽，其繁殖地位于山区，容易受到传统管理实践的放弃和气候变化的影响。我们创建了一个空间显式的基于代理的模型（ABM），以复制领地选择，并评估风力发电场对繁殖雄性死亡率的影响。我们特别感兴趣的是评估由于社会生态变化导致的栖息地丧失以及使用替代策略（增加风力涡轮机或用更强大的风力涡轮机替代现有风力涡轮机，即重新供电）增加风力发电对死亡率的影响。考虑了与云雀与风力涡轮机碰撞的风险相关的几个已知方面，特别是关于雄性在繁殖季节表现出的栖息地选择和行为。通过模拟适合该物种的栖息地的连续收缩，我们发现，在风力发电场影响区域内，繁殖领地的面积大大增加。在这些条件下，雄性的相对死亡率预计会显著增加。对于等效的风力发电，增加风力涡轮机会导致雄性的相对死亡率显著增加，而重新供电则不会。基于我们的发现，我们提出重新供电是一种可行的策略，可以在不增加云雀碰撞风险的情况下增加风力发电。我们强调，这种策略也可能有益于与地中海地区山脊下降栖息地相关的其他脆弱鸟类和蝙蝠物种。
