The wind energy industry has expanded in recent decades, largely for its ability to support human energy needs with minimal impact on the environment. However, its environmental impact increases in places where wind energy infrastructure is constructed in the path of wildlife migratory routes.
The construction of renewable energy infrastructure, such as wind turbines, has altered the landscape in ways that migratory species have not been exposed to in the past. Individuals may react to landscape changes through avoidance behavior, resulting in the functional loss of preferred habitat.
Ellis, K.S., Pearse, A.T., Brandt, D.A., Bidwell, M.T., Harrell, W., Butler, M.J. and van der Burg, M.P. 2022. Balancing future renewable energy infrastructure siting and associated habitat loss for migrating whooping cranes. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 10: 931260.
Any impacts are often compounded by ecological disturbances, such as climate-induced habitat loss or reduced landscape connectivity that can complicate conservation efforts. This is true especially for migratory birds, who depend on open flyways to move between winter and breeding grounds.
One key to protecting important flyways as new wind-energy projects are planned: location, location, location. To understand how turbine location influences migratory birds, a new study investigated the response of whooping cranes to wind-energy infrastructure along their multi-state migratory route and identified locations for future wind energy expansion.
Migratory data was measured within the U.S. Great Plains between 2010 and 2016 using GPS platform transmitting terminals attached to 57 whooping cranes. This data was used to determine the use or avoidance of migratory stopover sites in both drought and non-drought conditions, and incorporated with data on current and future landscape disturbance. The results were used in an optimization algorithm to evaluate areas that should be protected as whooping crane habitat versus sited for wind energy development.
The data revealed that whooping cranes avoided wind energy towers at a greater distance when compared to other forms of infrastructure, such as roads, powerlines, and towns. Additionally, during drought conditions when habitat availability was decreased, whooping cranes continued to select stopover sites at further distances from wind towers. The researchers argue that whooping cranes are increasing energetic costs to avoiding stopover sites in association with wind turbine infrastructure, leading to a decrease in overall fitness.
So how can prioritizing migratory stopover habitat can be balanced with renewable energy? Functional habitat loss from wind turbines varied between states, and states with more available habitat showed a greater loss in overall habitat when sitting for new wind turbine construction. However, when distributing new wind turbine construction across multiple states, overall habitat loss was reduced. This suggests that conservation efforts that prioritize collaboration of wind-energy projects across state lines to minimize functional habitat loss could be more successful in protecting migratory routes.
While it may be impossible to avoid wind energy impacts on migratory birds, placing infrastructure in locations with minimal impact is a key consideration. Achieving this through trans-boundary conservation could better balance conservation and energy goals.
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