Research shows that bats are being driven from their normal feeding areas by disturbance caused by wind turbines
Bats are being driven from their normal feeding grounds by disturbance caused by wind turbines, new research suggests.
A study found that bats avoided an area with lakes and ponds up to five kilometers away from wind turbines, where they would normally drink water and catch insects.
The findings were labeled a “tragedy” by the research team because renewable energy is needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change.
Researchers studied the acoustic signals of bats in parts of Germany with many wind turbines.
Professor Dr. Christian Voigt from the Leibniz Research Institute said:
‘We could clearly recognize that the bats, which specialized in foraging in open spaces and in dense vegetation, avoided water bodies when there were wind turbines nearby.’
The scientists placed acoustic detectors at a total of 59 small ponds that are permanently filled with water at a distance of about 50 to 5,000 meters from wind turbines in the north of Brandenburg, a state in eastern Germany.
The authors write in Biological Conservation: ‘With increasing proximity to wind turbines, the activity of bats in open spaces near water bodies decreased by 53 percent and the activity of bat species adapted to hunting in narrow vegetation decreased by 63 percent. ‘
Bats are being driven from their normal feeding grounds by disturbance caused by wind turbines, new research suggests (file image)
Researchers studied the acoustic signals of bats in parts of Germany with many wind turbines (file image)
Professor Voight said: ‘There is a certain tragedy in these results, because a measure to mitigate climate change has the unfortunate side effect of making some bats less able to cope with hot and dry summers when driven from their habitat by wind turbines.
‘This once again emphasizes how important it is to think carefully about the location of wind turbines, so as not to pit different objectives against each other. Habitats that are very important for species conservation should be given low priority or completely excluded as sites for wind energy production.’
Bat species studied include the common pipistrelle bat, the soprano bat, the western barbastelle, house bats, vesper bats, mouse-eared bats and long-eared bats.
Although the cause of the bats’ reluctance to fly near wind turbines is unknown, the authors say it may be related to air turbulence caused by the wind turbines, or noise.