Possible impacts of offshore wind farms on seabirds: a pilot study in Northern Gannets in the southern North Sea

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• 作者：Stefan Garthe ; Nele Markones ; Anna-Marie Corman
• 关键词：Wind energy ; Global positioning system tracking ; Habitat loss ; Foraging
• 刊名：Journal of Ornithology
• 出版年：2017
• 出版时间：January 2017
• 年：2017
• 卷：158
• 期：1
• 页码：345-349
• 全文大小：
• 刊物类别：Biomedical and Life Sciences
• 刊物主题：Zoology; Ecology; Fish & Wildlife Biology & Management;
• 出版者：Springer Berlin Heidelberg
• ISSN：2193-7206
• 卷排序：158

文摘

We studied the impact of offshore wind farms on the distribution of Northern Gannets in the southern North Sea. Distributions were derived from ship-based and aerial-transect counts, and from global positioning system (GPS) tracking of chick-rearing adults from the colony on Helgoland. Foraging trips of tagged Gannets lasted from 0.4 to 53.5 h, with a total distance flown per trip of 4.7–937.9 km, and range of 2.0–320.8 km. Gannets largely avoided the wind farm area north of Helgoland. This avoidance behaviour implies that, although Northern Gannets may not be killed by rotor blades, they may experience substantial habitat loss. GPS tracking is well suited to the study of wind farm effects on birds and possible habituation processes at the individual level.