Resource Documents — latest additions
Documents presented here are not the product of nor are they necessarily endorsed by National Wind Watch. These resource documents are provided to assist anyone wishing to research the issue of industrial wind power and the impacts of its development. The information should be evaluated by each reader to come to their own conclusions about the many areas of debate.
Action on multiple fronts, illegal poisoning and wind farm planning, is required to reverse the decline of the Egyptian vulture in southern Spain
Author: Sanz-Aguilar, Ana; et al. | Spain, Wildlife
ABSTRACT: Large body-sized avian scavengers, including the Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus), are globally threatened due to human-related mortality so guidelines quantifying the efficacy of different management approaches are urgently needed. We used 14 years of territory and individual-based data on a small and geographically isolated Spanish population to estimate survival, recruitment and breeding success. We then forecasted their population viability under current vital rates and under management scenarios that mitigated the main sources of non-natural mortality at breeding grounds (fatalities . . .
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Raptor Interactions with Wind Energy: Case Studies from Around the World
Author: Watson, Richard; et al. | Wildlife
ABSTRACT.—The global potential for wind power generation is vast, and the number of installations is increasing rapidly. We review case studies from around the world of the effects on raptors of wind-energy development. Collision mortality, displacement, and habitat loss have the potential to cause population-level effects, especially for species that are rare or endangered. The impact on raptors has much to do with their behavior, so careful siting of wind-energy developments to avoid areas suited to raptor breeding, foraging, or . . .
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Impacts of Wind Turbines on Redheads in the Laguna Madre
Author: Lange, Corey; et al. | Texas, Wildlife
ABSTRACT: Freshwater ponds adjacent to the Laguna Madre along the lower Texas coast provide an important and heavily used source of fresh water for the redhead (Aythya americana) throughout winter. A 267-turbine wind farm was constructed within the core wintering area of the redhead on a private ranch along the western coast of the Laguna Madre, in 2010. Our objective was to investigate the effects of this wind farm on the habitat and potential displacement of redheads and their use . . .
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Living in habitats affected by wind turbines may result in an increase in corticosterone levels in ground dwelling animals
Author: Łopucki, Rafał; et al. | Health, Wildlife
Environmental changes and disturbance factors caused by wind turbines may act as potential stressors for natural populations of both flying and ground dwelling animal species. The physiological stress response results in release of glucocorticoid hormones. We studied two rodent species of the agricultural landscape (the common vole Microtus arvalis and the striped field mouse Apodemus agrarius) and tested the hypothesis that living in habitats affected by wind turbines results in an increase in corticosterone levels. Rodents were trapped at sites . . .
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