TY - JOUR

T1 - Wind Farm Facilities in Germany Kill Noctule Bats from Near and Far

AU - Lehnert, Linn S.

AU - Kramer-Schadt, Stephanie

AU - Schonborn, Sophia

AU - Lindecke, Oliver

AU - Niermann, Ivo

AU - Voigt, Christian C.

PY - 2014/8/13

Y1 - 2014/8/13

N2 - Over recent years, it became widely accepted that alternative, renewable energy may come at some risk for wildlife, forexample, when wind turbines cause large numbers of bat fatalities. To better assess likely populations effects of windturbine related wildlife fatalities, we studied the geographical origin of the most common bat species found dead belowGerman wind turbines, the noctule bat (Nyctalus noctula). We measured stable isotope ratios of non-exchangeablehydrogen in fur keratin to separate migrants from local individuals, used a linear mixed-effects model to identify temporal,spatial and biological factors explaining the variance in measured stable isotope ratios and determined the geographicalbreeding provenance of killed migrants using isoscape origin models. We found that 72% of noctule bat casualties (n = 136)were of local origin, while 28% were long-distance migrants. These findings highlight that bat fatalities at German windturbines may affect both local and distant populations. Our results indicated a sex and age-specific vulnerability of batstowards lethal accidents at turbines, i.e. a relatively high proportion of killed females were recorded among migratoryindividuals, whereas more juveniles than adults were recorded among killed bats of local origin. Migratory noctule batswere found to originate from distant populations in the Northeastern parts of Europe. The large catchment areas of Germanwind turbines and high vulnerability of female and juvenile noctule bats call for immediate action to reduce the negative cross-boundary effects of bat fatalities at wind turbines on local and distant populations. Further, our study highlights the importance of implementing effective mitigation measures and developing species and scale-specific conservation approaches on both national and international levels to protect source populations of bats. The efficacy of localcompensatory measures appears doubtful, at least for migrant noctule bats, considering the large geographical catchment areas of German wind turbines for this species

AB - Over recent years, it became widely accepted that alternative, renewable energy may come at some risk for wildlife, forexample, when wind turbines cause large numbers of bat fatalities. To better assess likely populations effects of windturbine related wildlife fatalities, we studied the geographical origin of the most common bat species found dead belowGerman wind turbines, the noctule bat (Nyctalus noctula). We measured stable isotope ratios of non-exchangeablehydrogen in fur keratin to separate migrants from local individuals, used a linear mixed-effects model to identify temporal,spatial and biological factors explaining the variance in measured stable isotope ratios and determined the geographicalbreeding provenance of killed migrants using isoscape origin models. We found that 72% of noctule bat casualties (n = 136)were of local origin, while 28% were long-distance migrants. These findings highlight that bat fatalities at German windturbines may affect both local and distant populations. Our results indicated a sex and age-specific vulnerability of batstowards lethal accidents at turbines, i.e. a relatively high proportion of killed females were recorded among migratoryindividuals, whereas more juveniles than adults were recorded among killed bats of local origin. Migratory noctule batswere found to originate from distant populations in the Northeastern parts of Europe. The large catchment areas of Germanwind turbines and high vulnerability of female and juvenile noctule bats call for immediate action to reduce the negative cross-boundary effects of bat fatalities at wind turbines on local and distant populations. Further, our study highlights the importance of implementing effective mitigation measures and developing species and scale-specific conservation approaches on both national and international levels to protect source populations of bats. The efficacy of localcompensatory measures appears doubtful, at least for migrant noctule bats, considering the large geographical catchment areas of German wind turbines for this species

U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0103106

DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0103106

M3 - Article

VL - 2014

JO - PLoS ONE

JF - PLoS ONE

SN - 1932-6203

M1 - e103106

ER -