Wind Energy and Scientific Conservation: Assessment of Risks to Migratory Birds
Andrew Farnsworth, Conservation Science Program Kenneth V. Rosenberg, Director Conservation Science Program
Birds as Indicatorsof Environmental Health
• Abundant and widespread• Integral component of
most ecosystems• Sensitive to environmental
change and degradation• Indicators of human quality
of life• Respond quickly to
recovery efforts
• Keeping common birds common
• Helping species at risk• Voluntary partnerships
www.PartnersInFlight.org/
Partners in Flight
• Proactive -- conserve birds before they become endangered or threatened
• Non-adverserial partnerships
Species Conservation Assessment: six measures of vulnerability (1-5)
• Population Size (PS)• Breeding Distribution (BD)• Non-breeding Distribution (ND)• Threats Breeding (TB)• Threats Non-breeding (TN)• Population Trend (PT)
PIF species assessment database: http://www.rmbo.org/pif/pifdb.html
Distribution of Vulnerability
-13%Cerulean Warbler (Appalachians S28)
00.5
11.5
22.5
33.5
44.5
19661969197219751978198119841987199019931996199920022005Year
Index
CIHierarchicalCI
JanFeb
Mar
Apr
May
JunJul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Breeding:FecunditySurvival
Migration:SurvivalFitness
Migration
Winter:SurvivalFitness
Full Life-cycle Stewardship
Migratory Connections
Mortality on Migration
“conventional wisdom”BUT, few data from sites/turbines and used inconsistent methodologies
WindCommunication Towers
Pesticides
Vehicles
High Tension Lines
Other
CatsBuildings/Windows
Causes of Bird Fatalities
550010001000
800700700
2500
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000
No. of 10,000 Birds
(Erickson et al. 2002)
???<1
Wind Energy and Bird Conservation
Wind Energy and Bird Conservation
95m
• Airspace as bird habitat• Rotor-swept area = 4 acres
Unknowns: re birds• 3D distribution
• Temporal occurrence
• Can birds Avoid turbines?
Off Shore Wind Development
Middelgrunden, DenmarkRoseate Tern
3 km
Wind Energy and Bird ConservationExisting and proposed wind farms in US and MX (2008)
• 26,000+ turbines• 1.5% of potential
“Build-out” to reach potential would require 1.7 million turbines
Wind Power and Birds at the Isthmus of Tehauntepec
MW Production# Turbines
2,500MW of development by 2012
La Venta II
Major Migration Routes River of Raptors
What we know:• Areas with most favorable winds are also often
associated with migratory pathways • Birds and bats do collide with turbines causing
mortality, especially during migration• Population level effects are unknown because of a lack
of standardized research• No mandatory environmental impact guidelines• Need coordinated research to assess risk and
establish guidelines for siting and operation of turbines based on science
Wind Energy and Bird Conservation
“Assessing Risks to Migratory Wildlife from Wind Energy Development
• Major Research Priorities– Standardize methodology for studying behavior
and mortality during pre- and post- construction.
– Use current data to focus research on critically important migration and movement corridors. (“Red zones”)
– Predictive risk assessment – how are distributions of birds and within the rotor-swept area affected by species biology, weather, topography, and time?
– Coordinate data access, analysis, and archiving
American Wind Wildlife Institute
• “Imagine if a similar effort had taken place at the turn of the 20th century with the auto industry and air quality. We’d probably be in a completely different place when it comes to global climate change and energy dependence.” – Kraig Butrum, AWWI
• Wind energy is fundamentally a good idea• We do not know what the research will reveal• The hope: incorporate safeguards at front
end of design and construction• Cornell Lab will play lead role with acoustics
and risk-assessment modeling
Wind Energy and Bird Conservation
Must Compare with Alternatives – “birds/kw”
Acid deposition
Mountaintop removal
Mercury
Combining multiple technologies, integrating expertise, and fostering the next generation of scientists & leaders
Integrated Basic and Applied Research for Conserving Migrants
eBird
RadarAcoustics
Tags & tracking
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