Physiol Biochem Zool. 2021 Jan/Feb;94(1):35-49. doi: 10.1086/712100.
AbstractWind-generated power is one of the fastest growing alternative energy strategies worldwide and will likely account for 20% of US energy production by 2030. The installation and maintenance of wind farms are associated with increased human activity and can generate noise pollution, disturb and fragment habitat, and even alter community composition and structure. These environmental and ecological changes can increase physiological stress for vertebrates and affect important life-history attributes, such as immune function. However, little is known about how wind farms influence physiology and disease or parasite resistance in nonvolant wildlife. Here, we test the notion that renewable wind farms increase physiological stress and correlated aspects of disease resistance (parasite load) in a common desert vertebrate, the side-blotched lizard (). We captured lizards from three wind farms and three undisturbed reference sites in the San Gorgonio Pass wind resource area in the Mojave Desert, California. We quantified individual external parasite loads and measured plasma antioxidant capacity and concentrations of reactive oxygen metabolites as a combined metric of oxidative stress. Contrary to our expectations, individuals at wind farm sites had significantly fewer external parasites than at undeveloped sites. Additionally, we found a slight positive correlation between parasite load and oxidative stress for individuals at wind farm sites but not at reference sites. Our results demonstrate a complex, potentially context-dependent relationship between stress physiology and disease resistance for lizards in anthropogenically disturbed environments. Understanding how wind farms affect the physiology and ecoimmunology of terrestrial fauna is necessary to mitigate the ecological costs of alternative energy development.
摘要 风力发电是全球增长最快的替代能源战略之一，到 2030 年，其发电量可能占美国能源产量的 20%。风力发电场的安装和维护会增加人类活动，产生噪音污染，干扰和破坏栖息地，甚至改变群落组成和结构。这些环境和生态变化会增加脊椎动物的生理压力，并影响重要的生命史特征，如免疫功能。然而，人们对风力发电场如何影响非飞行野生动物的生理学和疾病或寄生虫抗性知之甚少。在这里，我们检验了这样一种观点，即可再生风力发电场会增加常见沙漠脊椎动物——侧斑鬣蜥（）的生理压力和相关疾病抗性（寄生虫负荷）。我们从加利福尼亚州莫哈韦沙漠圣戈戈尼奥山口的三个风力发电场和三个未受干扰的参考点捕获了鬣蜥。我们量化了个体的外部寄生虫负荷，并测量了血浆抗氧化能力和活性氧代谢物的浓度，作为氧化应激的综合指标。与我们的预期相反，风力发电场的个体的外部寄生虫明显少于未开发的个体。此外，我们发现，在风力发电场个体中，寄生虫负荷与氧化应激之间存在轻微的正相关关系，但在参考点个体中则没有。我们的研究结果表明，在人为干扰的环境中，蜥蜴的应激生理学和疾病抗性之间存在着复杂的、潜在的依赖于环境的关系。了解风力发电场如何影响陆地动物的生理和生态免疫学对于减轻替代能源发展的生态成本是必要的。
