Acoustic bat activty at wind turbines in temperate forests - Avoidance patterns and potential causes

Anthropogenic activities have caused two current major crises: biodiversity decline and climate change. Climate change mitigation is largely accepted as a societal goal and policy makers unite forces to substantially reduce carbon dioxide emission. However, the ongoing transition from fossil to renewable energy sources, such as wind energy, is not without impact on biodiversity, thereby creating a conflict of two sustainability objectives. Wind turbines are increasingly built in forest ecosystems, which present important foraging and roosting habitats for European bats. Forest bats may be affected by the deployment of wind turbines through collisions with the rotor blades, through habitat losses where forest is cleared, and through displacement effects. In this thesis, I investigated effects of wind turbines in forests as reflected in activity patterns of local bat communities. To this end, I performed an acoustic study across 22 wind turbines sites in temperate forests of Hesse, Central Germany. I determined bat activity levels at wind turbine clearings, at adjacent forest edges and in the surrounding forests at distances between 80 m and 450 m to the closest wind turbine. Recorded bat activity was investigated for three foraging guilds: narrow-space foraging bats specialized on flight in vegetation clutter, edge-space foraging bats specialized on flight in semi-open habitats like forest edges, and open-space foraging bats specialized on flight above forest canopies. I found that bats were negatively affected by wind turbines in forests. Specifically, narrow-space foraging bats avoided wind turbines over distances of at least 450 m, which presents an indirect habitat loss for these bats. The avoidance was at least partly explained by noise emissions of operating wind turbines which were amplified by high wind speeds. In contrast, the presence of cleared spaces around wind turbines did not contribute to the avoidance in narrow-space foraging bats. Edge-space and open-space foraging bats were less susceptible to displacements by wind turbines. Instead, they displayed higher activity levels at wind turbine clearings than in the surrounding forest canopies which might lead to increased collision rates for these bats in comparison to wind turbines in open landscapes. This thesis highlights the existence of forest-specific wind turbine effects on bat activity patterns which may affect local bat communities and populations. Consequently, when wind turbines are installed and operated in forests, forest-specific conservation measures are required, e.g., the exclusion or compensation of forest areas with heterogeneous vegetation structure and the reduction of turbine noise emissions. Such measures will contribute towards resolving the bat-wind energy conflict as an example of how objectives of climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation can be reconciled

Temporal and spatial analysis of the 2014-2015 Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa

West Africa is currently witnessing the most extensive Ebola virus (EBOV) outbreak so far recorded. Until now, there have been 27,013 reported cases and 11,134 deaths. The origin of the virus is thought to have been a zoonotic transmission from a bat to a two-year-old boy in December 2013 (ref. 2). From this index case the virus was spread by human-to-human contact throughout Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. However, the origin of the particular virus in each country and time of transmission is not known and currently relies on epidemiological analysis, which may be unreliable owing to the difficulties of obtaining patient information. Here we trace the genetic evolution of EBOV in the current outbreak that has resulted in multiple lineages. Deep sequencing of 179 patient samples processed by the European Mobile Laboratory, the first diagnostics unit to be deployed to the epicentre of the outbreak in Guinea, reveals an epidemiological and evolutionary history of the epidemic from March 2014 to January 2015. Analysis of EBOV genome evolution has also benefited from a similar sequencing effort of patient samples from Sierra Leone. Our results confirm that the EBOV from Guinea moved into Sierra Leone, most likely in April or early May. The viruses of the Guinea/Sierra Leone lineage mixed around June/July 2014. Viral sequences covering August, September and October 2014 indicate that this lineage evolved independently within Guinea. These data can be used in conjunction with epidemiological information to test retrospectively the effectiveness of control measures, and provides an unprecedented window into the evolution of an ongoing viral haemorrhagic fever outbreak.status: publishe

Activity of forest specialist bats decreases towards wind turbines at forest sites

Worldwide, wind turbines are increasingly being built at forest sites to meet the goals of national climate strategies. Yet, the impact on biodiversity is barely understood. Bats may be heavily affected by wind turbines in forests, because many species depend on forest ecosystems for roosting and hunting and can experience high fatality rates at wind turbines. We performed acoustic surveys in 24 temperate forests in the low mountain ranges of Central Germany to monitor changes in the acoustic activity of bats in relation to wind turbine proximity, rotor size, vegetation structure and season. Call sequences were identified and assigned to one of three functional guilds: open-space, edge-space and narrow-space foragers, the latter being mainly forest specialists. Based on the response behaviour of bats towards wind turbines in open landscapes, we predicted decreasing bat activity towards wind turbines at forest sites, especially for narrow-space foragers. Vertical vegetation heterogeneity had a strong positive effect on all bats, yet responses to wind turbines in forests varied across foraging guilds. Activity of narrow-space foragers decreased towards turbines over distances of several hundred metres, especially towards turbines with large rotors and during mid-summer months. The activity of edge-space foragers did not change with distance to turbines or season, whereas the activity of open-space foragers increased close to turbines in late summer. Synthesis and applications. Forest specialist bats avoid wind turbines in forests over distances of several hundred metres. This avoidance was most apparent towards turbines with large rotors. Since forests are an important habitat for these bats, we advise to exclude forests with diverse vegetation structure as potential wind turbine sites and to consider compensation measures to account for habitat degradation associated with the operation of wind turbines in forests

Analysis of diagnostic findings From the European mobile laboratory in Guéckédou, Guinea, March 2014 through March 2015

 A unit of the European Mobile Laboratory (EMLab) consortium was deployed to the Ebola virus disease (EVD) treatment unit in Guéckédou, Guinea, from March 2014 through March 2015.status: publishe

Analysis of diagnostic findings from the european mobile laboratory in Gueckedou, Guinea, march 2014 through march 2015

A unit of the European Mobile Laboratory (EMLab) consortium was deployed to the Ebola virus disease (EVD) treatment unit in Guéckédou, Guinea, from March 2014 through March 2015.; The unit diagnosed EVD and malaria, using the RealStar Filovirus Screen reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) kit and a malaria rapid diagnostic test, respectively.; The cleaned EMLab database comprised 4719 samples from 2741 cases of suspected EVD from Guinea. EVD was diagnosed in 1231 of 2178 hospitalized patients (57%) and in 281 of 563 who died in the community (50%). Children aged <15 years had the highest proportion of Ebola virus-malaria parasite coinfections. The case-fatality ratio was high in patients aged <5 years (80%) and those aged >74 years (90%) and low in patients aged 10-19 years (40%). On admission, RT-PCR analysis of blood specimens from patients who died in the hospital yielded a lower median cycle threshold (Ct) than analysis of blood specimens from survivors (18.1 vs 23.2). Individuals who died in the community had a median Ct of 21.5 for throat swabs. Multivariate logistic regression on 1047 data sets revealed that low Ct values, ages of <5 and ≥45 years, and, among children aged 5-14 years, malaria parasite coinfection were independent determinants of a poor EVD outcome.; Virus load, age, and malaria parasite coinfection play a role in the outcome of EVD