期刊
ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE
卷 9, 期 2, 页码 -出版社
ROYAL SOC
DOI: 10.1098/rsos.211041
关键词
bearded vulture; risk mitigation; wildlife-human conflicts; spatial planning; predictive modelling; vulture conservation
资金
- Swiss Federal Office for Energy
- Swiss Federal Office for the Environment
- Parrotia Stiftung
- Margarethe und Rudolf Gsell-Stiftung
- Alfons und Mathilde Suter-Caduff Stiftung
- WWF Switzerland
- Beat und Dieter Jutzler Stiftung
- University of Bern Forschungsstiftung
- Stiftung Dreiklang fur okologische Forschung und Bildung
- Sophie und Karl Binding Stiftung
- Stiftung Temperatio
- Ernst Gohner Stiftung
- Steffen Gysel Stiftung fur Natur und Vogelschutz
- Samy Harshallanos
The deployment of wind turbines in the Swiss Alps may pose a collision risk to large birds, such as bearded vultures. By using GPS data from tagged vultures, a spatially explicit model was developed to predict potential conflict areas with future wind turbine installations. The model identified south-exposed mountainsides and areas with a high occurrence of ibex carcasses as critical zones of collision risk. This model provides a decision-making tool for authorities and energy companies to proactively plan wind farm deployments and reduce risks to Alpine wildlife.
Deployment of wind energy is proposed as a mechanism to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Yet, wind energy and large birds, notably soaring raptors, both depend on suitable wind conditions. Conflicts in airspace use may thus arise due to the risks of collisions of birds with the blades of wind turbines. Using locations of GPS-tagged bearded vultures, a rare scavenging raptor reintroduced into the Alps, we built a spatially explicit model to predict potential areas of conflict with future wind turbine deployments in the Swiss Alps. We modelled the probability of bearded vultures flying within or below the rotor-swept zone of wind turbines as a function of wind and environmental conditions, including food supply. Seventy-four per cent of the GPS positions were collected below 200 m above ground level, i.e. where collisions could occur if wind turbines were present. Flight activity at potential risk of collision is concentrated on south-exposed mountainsides, especially in areas where ibex carcasses have a high occurrence probability, with critical areas covering vast expanses throughout the Swiss Alps. Our model provides a spatially explicit decision tool that will guide authorities and energy companies for planning the deployment of wind farms in a proactive manner to reduce risk to emblematic Alpine wildlife.
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