Abstract
Exponential growth of the wind energy industry in Portugal entails a non-negligible pressure on wildlife, especially on bird and bat communities that must be studied. In this chapter, a general characterisation of the wind energy industry in mainland Portugal is provided, in association with a quantitative analysis of the direct impacts identified over the past 10 years. Aiming to identify the species most affected by wind turbine-caused fatalities, we analysed the reports of 44 monitoring programmes pertaining to wind farms in their operational phase conducted between 2005 and 2015. The information gathered from these reports, combined with the general characteristics of the territory and the timeframe when fatalities happened, highlighted both spatial and temporal fatality hotspots for the bird and bat communities. Our analysis revealed a higher fatality concentration in northern Portugal and, although several of the affected species are widespread and of least conservation concern, they are migratory and have known fatalities in neighbouring countries. Such findings emphasise the importance of studying the impacts at a regional scale, using a single framework, since the cumulative effects on the populations’ viability are currently unknown and require further investigation.
Joana Marques and Sandra Rodrigues: Equal contributors.
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Notes
- 1.
In Portugal, bat hibernation period is considered to start in mid-December and to last until late February; and breeding period starts from mid-April and goes as far as late July, depending on species (per ICNF 2014b). For the analysis presented in this chapter, the following periods were considered: hibernation: mid-December to end of February; breeding: March to June; dispersion: July to August; mating: September to mid-December.
- 2.
Bird phenological periods considered for the analysis presented in this chapter are the following: wintering: December to February; breeding: March to June; juvenile dispersion: July to August; migration: September to November.
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Marques, J., Rodrigues, S., Ferreira, R., Mascarenhas, M. (2018). Wind Industry in Portugal and Its Impacts on Wildlife: Special Focus on Spatial and Temporal Distribution on Bird and Bat Fatalities. In: Mascarenhas, M., Marques, A., Ramalho, R., Santos, D., Bernardino, J., Fonseca, C. (eds) Biodiversity and Wind Farms in Portugal. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60351-3_1
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