Avian interactions with renewable energy infrastructure: An update

Energy infrastructure is widespread worldwide. Renewable energy technologies, which are expanding their footprint on the landscape and their contribution to energy availability, represent a different kind of infrastructure from extractive energy technologies. Although renewable energy sources may offer a ‘greener alternative’ to traditional extractive energy sources, mounting evidence suggests that renewable energy infrastructure, and the transmission lines needed to convey energy from renewable energy facilities to users, may impact birds. Peer-reviewed literature historically has focused on the direct effects of electrocution and, to a lesser extent, collisions with overhead power systems, and on avian collisions at wind energy facilities, with less consideration of indirect effects or other energy sectors. Here, we review studies that have examined direct and indirect effects on birds at utility-scale onshore windand solar-energy facilities, including their associated transmission lines. Although both direct and indirect effects appear site-, species-, and infrastructure-specific, generalities across energy sectors are apparent. For example, largebodied species with high wing loading and relatively low maneuverability appear to be especially susceptible to direct effects of tall structures, and the risk of collision is likely greater when structures are placed perpendicular to flight paths or in areas of high use. Given that all infrastructure types result in direct loss or fragmentation of habitat and may affect the distribution of predators, indirect effects mediated by these mechanisms may be pervasive across energy facilities. When considered together, the direct and indirect effects of renewable energy facilities, and the transmission lines serving these facilities, are likely cumulative. Ultimately, cross-facility and cross-taxon meta-analyses will be necessary to fully understand the cumulative impacts of energy infrastructure on birds. Siting these facilities in a way that minimizes avian impacts will require an expanded understanding of how birds perceive facilities and the mechanisms underlying direct and indirect effects. La infraestructura energ´etica esta´ ampliamente distribuida en todo el mundo. Las tecnolog´ıas de energ´ıa renovable esta´n expandiendo su huella en el paisaje y su contribuci ´on a la disponibilidad de energ´ıa, y representan un tipo diferente de infraestructura a la de las tecnolog´ıas extractivas de energ´ıa. Aunque las fuentes de energ´ıa renovable ofrecen una ‘‘alternativa ma´s verde’’ en comparaci ´on con las fuentes tradicionales de extracci ´on de energ´ıa, existe bastante evidencia que sugiere que la infraestructura de energ´ıa renovable y las l´ıneas de transmisi ´on necesarias para transportar la energ´ıa hacia los usuarios podr´ıan afectar a las aves. La literatura cient´ıfica tradicionalmente se ha enfocado en los efectos directos de la electrocuci ´on y, en menor medida, en las colisiones con los sistemas a´ereos de energ´ıa y con las estructuras de energ´ıa e ´ olica. En cambio, ha habido escasa consideraci ´on de sus efectos indirectos y de otros sectores energ´ eticos. En este trabajo revisamos estudios que investigaron los efectos directos e indirectos sobre las aves a la escala de instalaciones terrestres de energ´ıa e ´ olica y solar, incluyendo sus l´ıneas de transmisi ´ on. Aunque los efectos directos e indirectos parecen ser espec´ıficos para cada sitio, especie y tipo de energ´ıa, existen generalidades evidentes entre diferentes sectores energ´ eticos. Por ejemplo, las especies de mayor tama˜ no, con alta carga alar y maniobrabilidad relativamente baja parecen ser especialmente susceptibles a los efectos directos de las estructuras altas, y el riesgo de colisi ´on probablemente es mayor cuando las estructuras se ubican perpendiculares al sentido del vuelo o en a´reas con alto uso. Dado que todos los tipos de infraestructura resultan en la p´erdida directa del ha´bitat o en su fragmentaci ´on y podr´ıan afectar la distribuci ´on de los depredadores, los efectos indirectos mediados por estos mecanismos pueden ser comunes entre diferentes instalaciones energ´ eticas. Cuando se consideran en conjunto, los efectos directos e indirectos en las instalaciones de energ´ıa renovable y en las l´ıneas de transmisi ´on asociadas probablemente son acumulativos. Finalmente, sera´ necesario hacer meta ana´ lisis a trav´es de varios tipos de instalaciones y taxones para entender completamente los impactos acumulativos de la infraestructura energ´etic

Evolution of Communal Roosting: A Social Refuge-Territory Prospecting Hypothesis

© 2018 The Raptor Research Foundation, Inc. Avian communal roosts provide insight into evolution and serve as focal points for conservation. Nonbreeding Crested Caracaras (Caracara cheriway; hereafter caracaras) use communal roosts, but evolutionary implications have not been explored. Though nonbreeding caracaras are nonmigratory, the scientific literature fails to explain seasonal differences in their movement and survival concurrent with seasonal consistency in their habitat and social ecology. In the Social Refuge-Territory Prospecting hypothesis we propose, socially subordinate nonbreeding caracaras precluded from breeding by habitat limitation use communal roosts as social refuges to avoid aggression from dominant territory holders during nonbreeding seasons, and engage in territory prospecting during breeding seasons. Communal roosts thus become central places from which to forage not for food, but for a breeding territory. Because foraging gains are stored as remembered information, competition costs resulting from public information are preempted. For the Social Refuge-Territory Prospecting hypothesis to be valid, two criteria need to be met. First, communal roost use needs to be higher during nonbreeding seasons. Second, a measure of fitness needs to be used to evaluate the hypothesis as an evolutionarily stable strategy. To meet these criteria, in this study we report that numbers of nonbreeding caracaras using a communal roost in Florida are higher during nonbreeding seasons (mean = 111.8 individuals/night) than during breeding seasons (mean = 60.7 individuals/night) as counted from August 2006-April 2009 (n = 407 counts). We also compare differential survival by season from previous work to demonstrate that by limiting exploratory movements to times when prospecting is most informative, nonbreeding caracaras balance maximizing survival against the likelihood of securing a breeding territory. Our hypothesis provides a unifying explanation for otherwise unexplained paradoxes in the ecology of nonbreeding caracaras, and may be useful in guiding conservation and expanding our understanding of the ecology of other communally roosting birds

Reactions of Sandhill Cranes Approaching a Marked Transmission Power Line

Sandhill cranes Antigone canadensis, formerly Grus canadensis, are of widespread management focus, particularly where collisions with power lines are an important cause of mortality. Collision mitigation focuses on marking power lines to increase visibility, but collisions persist, perhaps because power line markers are not sufficiently visible in all conditions. Our objective was to compare reaction distances and reaction behaviors during daylight when power lines are presumably more visible, and during darkness when power lines are less visible. The power line we studied was fitted with glow-in-the-dark power line markers intended to increase nocturnal visibility. We found that during daylight, flocks generally avoided the power line by climbing gradually and passed above without making sudden evasive maneuvers. During darkness, flocks, particularly small flocks, were almost equally likely to make sudden evasive maneuvers as to climb gradually. Collision monitoring on the power line we studied conducted concurrent to our study indicated that 94% of collisions occurred during darkness, linking the behaviors we observed to actual mortality. Sandhill cranes also reacted at greater distances and with fewer sudden evasive maneuvers to the glow-in-the-darkmarked power line we studied than to nearby power lines without glowing markers evaluated in a prior study, suggesting that either glowing markers, smaller gaps between markers, or both, improved sandhill cranes’ ability to perceive and react to the power line we studied. By correlating behavioral observations with mortality, our study indicates that proactive low-intensity behavioral observations might be useful surrogates to reactive high-intensity carcass searches in identifying high-risk spans. This approach may also be effective for other species

An ancient founder mutation in PROKR2 impairs human reproduction

Congenital gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) deficiency manifests as absent or incomplete sexual maturation and infertility. Although the disease exhibits marked locus and allelic heterogeneity, with the causal mutations being both rare and private, one causal mutation in the prokineticin receptor, PROKR2 L173R, appears unusually prevalent among GnRH-deficient patients of diverse geographic and ethnic origins. To track the genetic ancestry of PROKR2 L173R, haplotype mapping was performed in 22 unrelated patients with GnRH deficiency carrying L173R and their 30 first-degree relatives. The mutation's age was estimated using a haplotype-decay model. Thirteen subjects were informative and in all of them the mutation was present on the same ∼123 kb haplotype whose population frequency is ≤10%. Thus, PROKR2 L173R represents a founder mutation whose age is estimated at approximately 9000 years. Inheritance of PROKR2 L173R-associated GnRH deficiency was complex with highly variable penetrance among carriers, influenced by additional mutations in the other PROKR2 allele (recessive inheritance) or another gene (digenicity). The paradoxical identification of an ancient founder mutation that impairs reproduction has intriguing implications for the inheritance mechanisms of PROKR2 L173R-associated GnRH deficiency and for the relevant processes of evolutionary selection, including potential selective advantages of mutation carriers in genes affecting reproductio

KLB , encoding β‐Klotho, is mutated in patients with congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism

Congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (CHH) is a rare genetic form of isolated gonadotropin‐releasing hormone (GnRH) deficiency caused by mutations in > 30 genes. Fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1) is the most frequently mutated gene in CHH and is implicated in GnRH neuron development and maintenance. We note that a CHH FGFR1 mutation (p.L342S) decreases signaling of the metabolic regulator FGF21 by impairing the association of FGFR1 with β‐Klotho (KLB), the obligate co‐receptor for FGF21. We thus hypothesized that the metabolic FGF21/KLB/FGFR1 pathway is involved in CHH. Genetic screening of 334 CHH patients identified seven heterozygous loss‐of‐function KLB mutations in 13 patients (4%). Most patients with KLB mutations (9/13) exhibited metabolic defects. In mice, lack of Klb led to delayed puberty, altered estrous cyclicity, and subfertility due to a hypothalamic defect associated with inability of GnRH neurons to release GnRH in response to FGF21. Peripheral FGF21 administration could indeed reach GnRH neurons through circumventricular organs in the hypothalamus. We conclude that FGF21/KLB/FGFR1 signaling plays an essential role in GnRH biology, potentially linking metabolism with reproduction

Explorations, Vol. 5, No. 1

Articles include: Cover: What Have We Done with Tomorrow? by Leslie C. Hyde, UMCES Extension Agent for Knox-Lincoln Counties. Editorial Reflections, Carole J. Bombard UMCES: an overview Conversation with the Director: Assistant Vice-President Judith Bailey Reaching Out for Teen Awareness, by Theresa M. Ferrari Profile of a Harbormaster, by Carole J. Bombard Minding Maine’s Business, by Mary S. Bowie Family Resource Management: Learning to ease the burden, by Olive Dubord and Doris Cushman Breaking Free and Taking Control: Helen Sawyer’s Story, by Doris Manley Partnership in Conservation: The Josephine Newman Sanctuary, by Nancy Coverstone The Mount Desert Island Health Promotion Project, by Ron Beard Dynamics of Weed Control in Agriculture, by Leigh Morrow From Generation to Generation: An Extension Homemaker Family, by Nadine B. Reimer ICLAD: The Institute for Community Leadership and Development, by Jim Killacky and Deb Burwell Exploding the Cinderella Syndrome: Strengthening Stepfamilies, by Wendy Pollock Integrated Pest Management: Bringing it all together, by Glen Koehler and Jim Dill Addressing the Issues, by Patricia M. Pierson Anti-Bruise: What’s It All About? Maine Potato Harvest Anti-Bruise Program, by Neal D. Hallee H.O.P.E. Addresses Teenage Pregnancy, by Jane M. Kelly Saving Money and the Environment, by Vaughn H. Holyoke Reservoir Tillage in Nonirrigated Potato Production, by Leigh Morrow Managing Pesticide Drift, by James D. Dwyer, Leigh S. Morrow and James F. Dill The St. George River Project — what have we done with tomorrow? Putting Research to Work, by Stephen Belyea The Best Maine Blue: Fresh Pack Blueberries, by Tom DeGomez Maine’s Green Sea Urchin, by Benjamin A. Baxter Interfaces and Cooperation: Wildlife and Fisheries Sampler, by Catherine A. Elliott Extension Responds to the Salmonella Scare, by Nellie Hedstrom and Mahmoud El-Begearm

Gravitational Waves From Known Pulsars: Results From The Initial Detector Era

We present the results of searches for gravitational waves from a large selection of pulsars using data from the most recent science runs (S6, VSR2 and VSR4) of the initial generation of interferometric gravitational wave detectors LIGO (Laser Interferometric Gravitational-wave Observatory) and Virgo. We do not see evidence for gravitational wave emission from any of the targeted sources but produce upper limits on the emission amplitude. We highlight the results from seven young pulsars with large spin-down luminosities. We reach within a factor of five of the canonical spin-down limit for all seven of these, whilst for the Crab and Vela pulsars we further surpass their spin-down limits. We present new or updated limits for 172 other pulsars (including both young and millisecond pulsars). Now that the detectors are undergoing major upgrades, and, for completeness, we bring together all of the most up-to-date results from all pulsars searched for during the operations of the first-generation LIGO, Virgo and GEO600 detectors. This gives a total of 195 pulsars including the most recent results described in this paper.United States National Science FoundationScience and Technology Facilities Council of the United KingdomMax-Planck-SocietyState of Niedersachsen/GermanyAustralian Research CouncilInternational Science Linkages program of the Commonwealth of AustraliaCouncil of Scientific and Industrial Research of IndiaIstituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare of ItalySpanish Ministerio de Economia y CompetitividadConselleria d'Economia Hisenda i Innovacio of the Govern de les Illes BalearsNetherlands Organisation for Scientific ResearchPolish Ministry of Science and Higher EducationFOCUS Programme of Foundation for Polish ScienceRoyal SocietyScottish Funding CouncilScottish Universities Physics AllianceNational Aeronautics and Space AdministrationOTKA of HungaryLyon Institute of Origins (LIO)National Research Foundation of KoreaIndustry CanadaProvince of Ontario through the Ministry of Economic Development and InnovationNational Science and Engineering Research Council CanadaCarnegie TrustLeverhulme TrustDavid and Lucile Packard FoundationResearch CorporationAlfred P. Sloan FoundationAstronom