Risk to European birds from collisions with wind-energy facilities

Abstract

In line with Europes decarbonization goals, wind-power capacity is projected to increase in future years. However, wind-energy facilities can affect biodiversity; flying animals can fatally collide with wind-energy infrastructure. Here, we assessed the reported risk posed by collisions to 108 European birds, comparatively across species. We drew risk maps to assess current hotspots of risk. We employed a customised risk approach, considering that risk emerged from the interaction between (1) reported impacts (the total estimated number of fatalities at the species-level, accounting for current exposure to wind turbines) and (2) vulnerability to these impacts (the degree to which species may be affected by collision mortality). We used a quantitative synthesis of fatality numbers at wind-energy facilities to quantify collision-mortality rates at the species-level. We derived (1) by further combining these with information on species suitable areas and on current wind-turbine deployment. We estimated species vulnerability from ecological characteristics (generation length, clutch size, and estimates of European suitable area) assumed to reflect species ability to cope with disturbances. Overlapping vulnerability with estimated impacts, we classified species into different risk categories, considering species to be at higher relative risk when more vulnerable and more impacted. We assessed where species falling into the risk categories might occur, and where possible conflicts with wind-energy deployment might arise. We found several risk hotspots notably located in the Iberian Peninsula and Northern Europe. Our work helps inform wind-power deployment and spatial planning at the European scale with the aim of minimising negative biodiversity impacts.