期刊
MARINE ECOLOGY PROGRESS SERIES
卷 686, 期 -, 页码 187-200出版社
INTER-RESEARCH
DOI: 10.3354/meps13964
关键词
Anthropogenic impact; Collision risks; Seabirds; Tracking; Wind turbines
资金
- Natural Environment Research Council, Orsted
- Natural England
- Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment research programme
- Marine Renewable Energy and the Environment project
- Highlands and Islands Enterprise
- European Regional Development Fund
- Scottish Funding Council
Movement of seabirds in offshore wind farms may increase collision risk. Studying the movements of GPS-tagged lesser black-backed gulls, we found that the birds were attracted to wind farms within a certain distance but showed avoidance behavior as the distance increased. Additionally, there were differences in attraction and avoidance based on flight height relative to the nearest turbine.
Movements through or use of offshore wind farms by seabirds while commuting or foraging may increase the potential for collision with turbine blades. Collision risk models provide a method for estimating potential impacts of wind farms on seabird populations, but are sensitive to input parameters, including avoidance rates (ARs). Refining understanding of avoidance through the use of high-resolution empirical movement data has the potential to inform assessments of the collision impacts of offshore wind farms on seabird populations. We assessed the movements of GPS-tagged lesser black-backed gulls Larus fuscus from a breeding colony in northwest England to estimate the species' AR and avoidance/attraction index (AAI) to nearby offshore wind farms. To investigate both macro- (0-4 km) and meso-scale (0-200 m) responses to wind turbines, we used calculations of AR and AAI based on simulated vs. observed tracks. We found that birds exhibited an AR of -0.15 (95% CI: -0.44 to 0.06), indicating a degree of attraction within 4 km of the wind farms. However, AAI values varied with distance from wind farm boundaries, with a degree of avoidance displayed between 3 and 4 km, which weakened as distance bands approach wind farm boundaries. Meso-scale avoidance/attraction was assessed with regard to the nearest individual turbine, and flight height relative to the rotor height range (RHR) of the nearest turbine. We found attraction increased below the RHR at distances < 70 m, while avoidance increased within the RHR at distances approaching the turbine. We explore how highresolution tracking data can be used to improve our knowledge of L. fuscus avoidance/attraction behaviour to established wind farms, and so inform assessments of collision impacts.
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