Effects of wind turbine dimensions on the collision risk of raptors: A simulation approach based on flight height distributions

作者：Tonio Schaub, Raymond H. G. Klaassen, Caroline De Zutter, Pascal Albert, Olivier Bedotti, Jean‐Luc Bourrioux, Ralph Buij, Joël Chadœuf, C. Del Grande, Hubertus Illner, Jérôme Isambert, Kjell Janssens, Eike Julius, Simon H. Lee, Aymeric Mionnet, Gerard Müskens, Rainer Raab, Stef van Rijn, Judy Shamoun‐Baranes, Geert Spanoghe, Benoît van Hecke, Jonas Waldenström, Alexandre Millon · 发表于：The Science of The Total Environment · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.176551 · 被引用次数：14 · 研究领域：Avian ecology and behavior、Wildlife Ecology and Conservation、Bat Biology and Ecology Studies

Wind energy development is a key component of climate change mitigation. However, birds collide with wind turbines, and this additional mortality may negatively impact populations. Collision risk could be reduced by informed selection of turbine dimensions, but the effects of turbine dimensions are still unknown for many species. As analyses of mortality data have several limitations, we applied a simulation approach based on flight height distributions of six European raptor species. To obtain accurate flight height data, we used high-frequency GPS tracking (GPS tags deployed on 275 individuals). The effects of ground clearance and rotor diameter of wind turbines on collision risk were studied using the Band collision risk model. Five species had a unimodal flight height distribution, with a mode below 25 m above ground level, while Short-toed Eagle showed a more uniform distribution with a weak mode between 120 and 260 m. The proportion of positions within 32–200 m ranged from 11 % in Marsh Harrier to 54 % in Red Kite. With increasing ground clearance (from 20 to 100 m), collision risk decreased in the species with low mode (−56 to −66 %), but increased in Short-toed Eagle (+38 %). With increasing rotor diameter (from 50 to 160 m) at fixed ground clearance, the collision risk per turbine increased in all species (+151 to +558 %), while the collision risk per MW decreased in the species with low mode (−50 % to −57 %). These results underpin that wind turbine dimensions can h...