Journal
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
Volume 119, Issue -, Pages 56-66Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS LTD- ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2013.01.025
Keywords
Marine birds; Offshore wind farms; Adverse effects; Renewable energy; Population vulnerability; Collision mortality; Displacement index
Categories
Funding
- Scottish Government
- Marine Renewable Energy and the Environment (MaREE) project by Highlands and Islands Enterprise
- European Regional Development Fund
- Scottish Funding Council
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Offshore wind farms may affect bird populations through collision mortality and displacement. Given the pressures to develop offshore wind farms, there is an urgent need to assess population-level impacts on protected marine birds. Here we refine an approach to assess aspects of their ecology that influence population vulnerability to wind farm impacts, also taking into account the conservation importance of each species. Flight height appears to be a key factor influencing collision mortality risk but improved data on flight heights of marine birds are needed. Collision index calculations identify populations of gulls, white-tailed eagles, northern gannets and skuas as of particularly high concern in Scottish waters. Displacement index calculations identify populations of divers and common scoters as most vulnerable to population-level impacts of displacement, but these are likely to be less evident than impacts of collision mortality. The collision and displacement indices developed here for Scottish marine bird populations could be applied to populations elsewhere, and this approach will help in identifying likely impacts of future offshore wind farms on marine birds and prioritising monitoring programmes, at least until data on macro-avoidance rates become available. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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