Responses of Local Birds to the Offshore Wind Farms PAWP and OWEZ off the Dutch mainland coast

Offshore wind turbines are an alien element at sea, a “landscape” that is normally wide and open. Large, turning turbines might affect the local seabirds, that are dependent on the sea. One of the possible effects of offshore wind farms might be that the seabirds will be displaced from the sites, which would mean habitat destruction or at least habitat degradation for this group. All seabirds, being migratory, are protected under the EU Birds Directive. Yet, there are no studies into the question where wind farms should best be built (with respect to seabirds) or how they should be designed to minimize disturbance. This study compares the effects of two wind farms of different design in close proximity of each other. PAWP has a much higher turbine density (4.3 turbines / km2) than OWEZ (1.3/km2). This difference in turbine density probably constitutes the main difference in design between PAWP and OWEZ. The turbines deployed in PAWP (n=60) are Vestas V80 - 2 MW, at 59 m above mean sea level (amsl), with a rotor diameter of 80 m. Those in OWEZ (n=36) are Vestas V90 - 3MW turbines at 70 m amsl, with a rotor diameter of 90 m

Exploring the relation between flapping behaviour and accelerometer signal during ascending flight, and a new approach to calibration

We understand little about the energetic costs of flight in free-ranging birds; in part since current techniques for estimating flight energetics in the wild are limited. Accelerometry is known to estimate energy expenditure through body movement in terrestrial animals, once calibrated using a treadmill with chamber respirometry. The flight equivalent, a wind tunnel with mask respirometry, is particularly difficult to instigate, and has not been applied to calibrate accelerometry. We take the first steps in exploring a novel method for calibrating accelerometers with flight energy expenditure. We collected accelerometry data for Harris’s Hawks Parabuteo unicinctus flying to varying heights up to 4.1 m over a small horizontal distance; the mechanical energy expended to gain height can be estimated from physical first principles. The relationship between accelerometry and mechanical energy expenditure was strong, and while a simple wing flapping model confirmed that accelerometry is sensitive to both changes in wing beat amplitude and frequency, the relationship was explained predominately by changes in wing beat frequency, and less so by changes in amplitude. Our study provides initial, positive evidence that accelerometry can be calibrated with body power using climbing flights, potentially providing a basis for estimating flapping flight metabolic rate at least in situations of altitude gain

Using microphone arrays to investigate microhabitat selection by declining breeding birds

Understanding the microhabitat preferences of animals can help managers to develop better conservation and recovery strategies but this is challenging. Traditional methods are limited by cost, accuracy and human resources. In this study, we investigated avian microhabitat preferences using microphone arrays that are capable of accurately locating vocalizing birds. Our objective was to identify the microhabitat associations of two common species in steep population decline, the Boreal Chickadee Poecile hudsonicus and the Cape May Warbler Setophaga tigrina. We deployed 68 eight‐channel arrays at random locations in Labrador, Canada, during the 2016 avian breeding season. We returned in 2017 to the 18 array locations where the target species had been detected the previous year and characterized the microhabitat at the exact locations where they had been detected. We also characterized the microhabitat at randomly determined control locations. Results show that Boreal Chickadees select trees with greater diameter‐at‐breast‐height that are surrounded by greater stem density. We did not find evidence that Cape May Warblers exhibit microhabitat selection during song production. The study shows that microphone arrays are an effective tool for identifying preferred microhabitat that could be incorporated into future conservation or recovery strategies

Dimension reduction techniques in community ecology With applications to spatio-temporal marine ecological data

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN027246 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

An extension of Box-Jenkins transfer/noise models for spatial interpolation of groundwater head series

This paper advocates an approach to extend single-output Box-Jenkins transfer/noise models for several groundwater head series to a multiple-output transfer/noise model. The approach links several groundwater head series and enables a spatial interpolation in terms of time series analysis. Our multiple-output transfer/noise model relates the single-output transfer/noise models from individual series by taking the spatial correlation of the white noise process into account anti spatially interpolating the parameters of the transfer and noise models. The parameters of the lime series models and the while noise process are considered to be spatial stochastic fields, and are described geostatistically. The model parameters and the noise variance are interpolated by means of Kriging. The approach's applicability is illustrated by two cases: a point study (an observation well with measured data from seven observation screens) and an area study that requires spatial interpolation. These show the method's usefulness for examining the effectiveness of monitoring strategies, filling in missing data and for the quality control of measured data. It also enables the responses of the single-output transfer/noise models to be spatially interpolated

Model methods for the analysis of mesocosm experimental studies

The response of experimental ecosystem dynamics to varying nutrient loads was studied by analysing oxygen time-series. Time-series had been continuously recorded, and the data were analysed on a daily basis using a computer model which describes basic oxygen processes. The resulting sets of production and consumption parameters described the dynamic characteristics of each basin during the experimental period of 180 days. Dynamical analysis appeared to be possible; although the results did not indicate a clear relationship between oxygen dynamics and nutrient supply in these systems

A beginner's Guide to R

Covers how to download and install R, import and manage data, elementary plotting, an introduction to functions, advanced plotting, and common beginner mistakes