Wind Farms and Power Lines Have Negative Effects on Territory Occupancy in Eurasian Eagle Owls (Bubo bubo)

Author:

Husby MagneORCID,Pearson Martin

Abstract

Wind power is useful for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but the construction and operation might have negative effects on biodiversity. The purpose of this study was to investigate any effects of wind farm and power line construction on territory occupancy in the vulnerable Eurasian eagle owl. We investigated 48 eagle owl territories before and after the whole construction period and a short operation period with the use of sound meters. We found that territorial eagle owls within 4–5 km from the wind farm and power line construction disturbance left their territories to a significantly higher extent (41% reduction in the number of territories with eagle owls) compared with the eagle owls in territories further away (23% reduction). The distance from the nest site to the disturbance was significantly shorter for those territories that were abandoned compared with territories where the birds stayed. Possible reasons for this decline might be a higher mortality caused by collisions, desertion and avoidance of wind power areas caused by the noise and disturbance from their construction. In addition, there are possible indirect effects, for example reductions in prey species may force eagle owls to abandon their territories. The construction period lasted much longer than the period with active wind turbines and power lines in this investigation, but we cannot separate the effects of the two because the investigations were only possible in the eagle owl breeding season, and the wind turbines were activated shortly after the construction period. Our results imply that careful investigations are needed to detect the possible occurrence of eagle owls near any type of construction work. Studies of these territories should strongly influence how and when the construction work can be carried out, but more investigations are needed to find details about the influence of distance.

Publisher

MDPI AG

Subject

General Veterinary,Animal Science and Zoology

Reference82 articles.

1. Climate Change 2021. The Physical Science Basis. Summary for Policy Makers,2021

2. Global Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services,2019

3. Consistent response of bird populations to climate change on two continents

4. Rapid warming is associated with population decline among terrestrial birds and mammals globally

5. Global potential for wind-generated electricity

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3