Birds & Blades

Kollisionen von Vögeln mit Windturbinen haben sich zu einer bedenklichen Quelle für die Gefährdung besonders von Populationen seltenerer Vogelarten entwickelt. Allerdings wird im Allgemeinen auch bestätigt, dass die Nutzung der Windenergie unverzichtbar ist. Das Hauptziel dieser Arbeit war es, die Relevanz der Wechselwirkungen zu verstehen, die zwischen technischen Infrastrukturen und den von Kollisionen betroffenen Vogelarten auf der Landschaftsebene stattfinden. Da sowohl von der Landschaft beeinflusst werden. Unter Nutzung der durch gezielte Nachsuche gefundenen Opfer der am häufigsten von Kollisionen betroffenen Artengruppen paradoxerweise as als Proxy für das Vorkommen von Arten, und Durch die Anwendung verschiedener Techniken zur Modellierung der Artenverbreitung (SDMs) die “kollisionsempfindliche Nische “für jede der Vogelgruppen beschrieben. Obwohl die vorhergesagten Gebiete mit potenziellen Kollisionsrisiko insgesamt nur kleine, aber stark verteilt im ungefährdes Bundeslandes hatten. Greifvögel mit die breiteste Nische, die zudem signifikante Überlappungen mit den kollisionsempfindlichen Nischen der anderen Gruppen aufwies. Die niedrig bewerteten Gebiete weiter differenziert, die als tatsächliche „Bereiche ohne Risiko“ interpretiert wurden, für weitere geplante Winkraftanlagen. Zusätzlich die jeweiligen Potentiale und Gefärdungen für Kollisionen auf der Basis der regionalen Dichteverteilungen der Arten in Brandenburg mit Ensemble-Methoden von Boosted Regression Trees wird ebenfalls bewertet. Zusammenfassend, diese Analysen paradigmatisch, sowohl die Gebiete als auch die Entfernungen zu den Grenzlinien der verschiedenen Landnutzungsformen ein höheres Risiko für die Kollision von Individuen der untersuchten Arten mit Windkraftanlagen ergibt ermitteln . Dieser Ansatz kann es möglich machen, zukünftige Windparkerweiterungen in der Landschaft im die möglichst kollisionsfreie und naturverträglicheStandorte in der Landschaft.Although, it is well recognized that harnessing wind energy is highly indispensable, but collisions of birds at wind turbines has also developed simultaneously, concerning multiple bird species. With wind being strongly affected by the landscape and the behaviour of birds also being strongly influenced by the landscape, the main objective of the thesis was to understand the relevance of interactions between wind energy infrastructures and bird species from an ecological perspective of the landscape. Utilizing the carcass collision datasets of the frequently-hit bird-groups paradoxically as proxies for species presence, collision sensitive ecological distances to different land-use types were ascertained, by employing multiple techniques of species distribution modelling (SDMs), to delineate their respective collision sensitive niche employing the capabilities of machine learning algorithms. The predicted areas were specialized and highly dispersed across the federal state, with raptors showing the broadest niche and significant overlaps with the other groups. Based on estimated collision probabilities of the assessed areas (between 0 and 1), further segregations differentiated only those areas with negligible collision probabilities, <0.05, which were interpreted as the actual "no risk areas, suggesting any further planned additions of wind turbines to be suitably positioned only in these “safer” areas. Additionally, these collision probabilities were translated to strike susceptibilities, by relating them to the regional density distributions of the species as well. Summarizing, these analyses paradigmatically ascertained collision risk areas, and especially the collision sensitive distances from different land-use types to these areas, enabling the accurate guidance of future wind farm expansions in the landscape. Ultimately, formulating novel wind turbine allocation strategies to minimize avian collisions, making them as compatible as possible

Data from: Collision sensitive niche profile of the worst affected bird-groups at wind turbine structures in the federal state of Brandenburg, Germany

Biodiversity-related impacts at wind energy facilities have increasingly become a cause of conservation concern, central issue being the collision of birds. Utilizing spatial information of their carcass detections at wind turbines (WTs), we quantified the detections in relation to the metric distances of the respective turbines to different land-use types. We used ecological niche factor analysis (ENFA) to identify combinations of land-use distances with respect to the spatial allocation of WTs that led to higher proportions of collisions among the worst affected bird-groups: Buntings, Crows, Larks, Pigeons and Raptors. We also assessed their respective similarities to the collision phenomenon by checking for overlaps amongst their distance combinations. Crows and Larks showed the narrowest “collision sensitive niche”; a part of ecological niche under higher risk of collisions with turbines, followed by that of Buntings and Pigeons. Raptors had the broadest niche showing significant overlaps with the collision sensitive niches of the other groups. This can probably be attributed to their larger home range combined with their hunting affinities to open landscapes. Identification of collision sensitive niches could be a powerful tool for landscape planning; helping avoid regions with higher risks of collisions for turbine allocations and thus protecting sensitive bird populations

Bird Groups

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RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE SINGING ABILITY OF PREKINDERGARTEN CHILDREN ANDTHEIR HOME MUSICAL ENVIRONMENT. - Page 113

With the increase in wind turbines, bird collisions have developed as a potential hazard. In the federal state of Brandenburg, Germany, despite the on-going mitigation efforts of increasing the distances of wind turbines from the breeding areas of the more severely affected populations of red kites (Milvus milvus), the additional detrimental influences on the buzzard populations (Buteo buteo) have added to the challenges for wind power expansion. Using data on the regional distribution of the buzzards, along with their carcass detections around the wind turbines (WTs), we aimed to better understand their collision distribution patterns in relation to their habitat use patterns to predict their exposure to collision risk using boosted regression trees (BRTs). Additionally, we integrated the developed collision potential map with the regional density map of buzzards to identify areas of increased strike susceptibility in turbine installations. Our study showed that the buzzard collisions were primarily concentrated at the turbines situated at sensitive distances from the edges of watercourses (>1000 metres), as well as those along the edges of grasslands (>750 metres), in the green open areas around/areas with minimal settlements (750 metres-1750 metres), and along the edges of bushlands (>1500 metres), together explaining 58% of the variance in their collision distribution. Conclusively, our study is applicable to conservation because it demonstrates the identification of potential collision areas along with the causes of the collisions, in addition to demonstrating the benefits of incorporating a species collision dataset as a proxy for species presence into species distribution models to make informed management decisions to eventually combat biodiversity loss