Study is step toward understanding how to
help bats impacted by wind-energy development
Date: March 17, 2016
Source: University of Maryland Center
A new study tracks down the origin of
bats killed by wind turbines in the Appalachian region using stable isotope and
genetic analysis in hopes of better understanding the risks to affected populations.
Wind energy is a growing alternative to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels. However,
one impact of large-scale wind energy development has been widespread mortality
of bats. A new study from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental
Science tracks down the origin of bats killed by wind turbines in the
Appalachian region in hopes of better understanding the risks to affected
populations.
"We knew which species were being
killed, but we didn't know how they were moving across the landscape, how many
were out there, or what their genetic diversity was," said the study's
co-author and Associate Professor David Nelson of the University of Maryland
Center for Environmental Science's Appalachian Laboratory. "Our research
is helping conservation managers to understand, 'Are these species that we need
to be concerned about?'"
Wind-energy sites along the forested
ridgelines of the Appalachian Mountains have
some of the highest bat mortality rates in the world. The hoary bat (Lasiurus
cinereus) and eastern red bat (Lasiurus borealis) comprise the majority of the
turbine-associated deaths in North America .
Little is known about the migration
pathways of bats in North America or how
wind-energy development may affect them. The researchers combined using stable
isotope and genetic analysis for the first time to assess the impacts of
wind-energy development on the bats impacted in the Appalachian region.
"Understanding the potential impacts
of turbine-associated bat deaths is often complicated by a lack of data,"
said lead author Cortney Pylant. "Studies such as this can help to
identify species and populations at particular risk."
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