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The Indirect Impacts of Wind Farms on Terrestrial Mammals: Insights from the Disturbance and Exclusion Effects on Wolves (Canis lupus)

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Biodiversity and Wind Farms in Portugal

Abstract

Due to the technical and functional characteristics of wind turbines, impact assessment studies have focused mainly on flying vertebrates. Nevertheless, evidence from the little available knowledge indicates potential impacts on large terrestrial mammals resulting from habitat fragmentation and increasing human disturbance . Over the last 15 years, more than 900 wind turbines were built inside the range of the Portuguese wolf. Due to the endangered status of this large carnivore in Portugal, several monitoring plans were conducted, resulting in a reasonable amount of information being collected on the effects of wind farms on wolves. We reviewed the methodological approaches, compiled major findings and summarised the mitigation/compensation measures used in Portuguese wind farms. The overall outcomes show increasing human disturbance in wind farm areas, resulting in lower wolf reproduction rates during construction and the first years of operation, as well as shifts in denning site locations of more than 2.5 km away from the wind farm. These findings are of major concern in humanised landscapes, where suitable wolf breeding habitats are reduced. As precautionary measure, new wind farm projects should be restricted in areas that are closer than 2 km from known wolf denning locations.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thanks to everyone whose work contributed to the reviewed data, namely Sara Roque, Helena Rio-Maior, Monia Nakamura, Pablo Sierra, Julia Eggermann, Ana Guerra, Mónica Almeida, Diana Barreto and Barbara Marti-Domken. For financial support, we would like to thanks to EDP Renováveis, ENEOP2, Vento Minho SA and ACHLI.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bioinsight, Odivelas, Portugal

    Gonçalo Ferrão da Costa & João Paula

  2. Grupo Lobo, Department of Animal Biology and CE3C—Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal

    Francisco Petrucci-Fonseca

  3. CIBIO/InBIO—Research Center in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, University of Porto, Vairão, Portugal

    Francisco Álvares

Authors
  1. Gonçalo Ferrão da Costa
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  2. João Paula
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  3. Francisco Petrucci-Fonseca
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  4. Francisco Álvares
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gonçalo Ferrão da Costa .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Bioinsight, Odivelas, Grande Lisboa, Portugal

    Miguel Mascarenhas

  2. cE3c—Centro de Ecologia, Evolução e Alterações Ambientais, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Grande Lisboa, Portugal

    Ana Teresa Marques

  3. Bioinsight, Cape Town, South Africa

    Ricardo Ramalho

  4. Centro de Investigação Interdisciplinar em Sanidade Animal (CIISA), Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    Dulce Santos

  5. CIBIO-InBIO, Department of Biology—Pole of Mitra, University of Évora, Évora, Alto Alentejo, Portugal

    Joana Bernardino

  6. Department of Biology—Group of Adaptation Biology and Ecological Processes, University of Aveiro—CESAM, Aveiro, Baixo Vouga, Portugal

    Carlos Fonseca

Appendix

Appendix

Table 5.1 Wolf monitoring projects used to assess wind farm effects in Portugal, namely for quantification of road traffic and evaluation of breeding patterns
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Ferrão da Costa, G., Paula, J., Petrucci-Fonseca, F., Álvares, F. (2018). The Indirect Impacts of Wind Farms on Terrestrial Mammals: Insights from the Disturbance and Exclusion Effects on Wolves (Canis lupus). 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_5

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