Bats and Wind Energy Issue Brief

Hatchet Ridge, Pattern Energy

This Issue Brief provides a summary of AWWI’s Bats and Wind Energy White Paper on what is known about wind energy’s impacts to bats, incorporating findings from the recent AWWI technical paper on a new analysis of post-construction fatality data.

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Citations

  1. Cleveland, C. J., M. Betke, P. Federico, J. D. Frank, T. G. Hallam, J. Horn, J. D. L. Jr, G. F. McCracken, R. A. Medellín, A. Moreno-Valdez, C. G. Sansone, J. K. Westbrook, and T. H. Kunz. 2006. Economic value of the pest control service provided by Brazilian free-tailed bats in south-central Texas. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 4:238-243.
  2. McCracken, G. F., J. K. Westbrook, V. A. Brown, M. Eldridge, P. Federico, and T. H. Kunz. 2012. Bats Track and Exploit Changes in Insect Pest Populations. PLOS One 7:e43839.
  3. Federico, P., T. G. Hallam, G. F. McCracken, S. T. Purucker, W. E. Grant, A. N. Correa-Sandoval, J. K. Westbrook, R. A. Medellín, C. J. Cleveland, and C. G. Sansone. 2008. Brazilian free-tailed bats as insect pest regulators in transgenic and conventional cotton crops. Ecological Applications 18:826-837.
  4. López-Hoffman, L., R. Wiederholt, C. Sansone, K. J. Bagstad, P. Cryan, J. E. Diffendorfer, J. Goldstein, K. LaSharr, J. Loomis, G. McCracken, R. A. Medellín, A. Russell, and D. Semmens. 2014. Market Forces and Technological Substitutes Cause Fluctuations in the Value of Bat Pest-Control Services for Cotton. PLOS One 9:e87912.
  5. Boyles, J. G., P. M. Cryan, G. F. McCracken, and T. H. Kunz. 2011. Economic importance of bats in agriculture. Science 332:41-42.
  6. Howell, D. and B. S. Roth. 1981. Sexual reproduction in agaves: the benefits of bats; the cost of semelparous advertising. Ecology:1-7.
  7. Molina-Freaner, F. and L. E. Eguiarte. 2003. The pollination biology of two paniculate agaves (Agavaceae) from northwestern Mexico: contrasting roles of bats as pollinators. American Journal of Botany 90:1016-1024.
  8. O’Shea, T. J., P. M. Cryan, D. T. Hayman, R. K. Plowright, and D. G. Streicker. 2016. Multiple mortality events in bats: a global review. Mammal Review.
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  10. Frick, W. F., J. F. Pollock, A. C. Hicks, K. E. Langwig, D. S. Reynolds, G. G. Turner, C. M. Butchkoski, and T. H. Kunz. 2010. An emerging disease causes regional population collapse of a common North American bat species. Science 329:679-682.
  11. Turner, G. G., D. Reeder, and J. T. Coleman. 2011. A Five-year Assessment of Mortality and Geographic Spread of White-Nose Syndrome in North American Bats, with a Look at the Future. Update of White-Nose Syndrome in Bats. Bat Research News:13.
  12. Hayes, M. A. 2012. The Geomyces Fungi: Ecology and Distribution. Bioscience 62:819-823.
  13. Frick, W. F., J. F. Pollock, A. C. Hicks, K. E. Langwig, D. S. Reynolds, G. G. Turner, C. M. Butchkoski, and T. H. Kunz. 2010a. An emerging disease causes regional population collapse of a common North American bat species. Science 329:679–682.
  14. Blehert, D. S., A. C. Hicks, M. Behr, C. U. Meteyer, B. M. Berlowski-Zier, E. L. Buckles, J. T. H. Coleman, S. R. Darling, A. Gargas, R. Niver, J. C. Okoniewski, R. J. Rudd, and W. B. Stone. 2009. Bat white-nose syndrome: An emerging fungal pathogen? Science 323:227.
  15. (DOE) U.S. Department of Energy. 2015. Wind Vision: A New Era for Wind Power in the United States. Washington, DC.
  16. Arnett, E. B., W. K. Brown, W. P. Erickson, J. K. Fiedler, B. L. Hamilton, T. H. Henry, A. Jain, G. D. Johnson, J. Kerns, R. R. Koford, C. P. Nicholson, T. J. O’Connell, M. D. Piorkowski, and R. D. Tankersley JR. 2008. Patterns of bat fatalities at wind energy facilities in North America. Journal of Wildlife Management 72:61–78.
  17. Arnett, E. B. and E. F. Baerwald. 2013. Impacts of Wind Energy Development on Bats: Implications for Conservation. Pages 435-456 in A. Adams and S. C. Pedersen, editors. Bat Evolution, Ecology, and Conservation. Springer Science+Business Media, New York.
  18. Cryan, P. M. 2011. Wind turbines as landscape impediments to the migratory connectivity of bats. Envtl. L. 41:355.
  19. Hayes, M. A. 2013. Bats killed in large numbers at United States wind energy facilities. Bioscience 63:975-979.
  20. Smallwood, K. S. 2013. Comparing bird and bat fatality‐rate estimates among North American wind‐energy projects. Wildlife Society Bulletin 37:19-33.
  21. Allison, T. D. and R. Butryn. 2018. AWWI Technical Report: A Summary of Bat Fatality Data in a Nationwide Database. American Wind Wildlife Institute (AWWI), Washington, DC.
  22. Kunz, T. H., E. B. Arnett, W. P. Erickson, A. R. Hoar, G. D. Johnson, R. P. Larkin, M. D. Strickland, R. W. Thresher, and M. D. Tuttle. 2007. Ecological impacts of wind energy development on bats: questions, research needs, and hypotheses. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 5:315-324.
  23. Cryan, P. M. 2008. Mating behavior as a possible cause of bat fatalities at wind turbines. Journal of Wildlife Management 72:845-849.
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  25. Cryan, P. M. and R. M. R. Barclay. 2009. Causes of bat fatalities at wind turbines: hypotheses and predictions. Journal of Mammalogy 90:1330-1340.
  26. Barclay, R. M. R., and A. Kurta. 2007. Ecology and behavior of bats roosting in tree cavities and under bark. Pages 18–59 in J. Lacki, J. P. Hayes, and A. Kurta, editors. Bats in Forests: Conservation and Management. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
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  28. Frick, W.F., E.F. Baerwald, J.F. Pollock, R.M.R. Barclay, J.A. Szymanski, T.J. Weller , A.L. Russell, S.C. Loeb, R.A. Medellin, and L.P. McGuire. Fatalities at wind turbines may threaten population viability of a migratory bat. Biological Conservation 209:172-177.
  29. Hein, C., J. Gruver, and B. Arnett. 2013. Relating pre-construction bat activity and postconstruction bat fatality to predict risk at wind energy facilities: a synthesis. A report submitted to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Bat Conservation International, Austin, TX, USA.
  30. Santos, H., L. Rodrigues, G. Jones, and H. Rebelo. 2013. Using species distribution modelling to predict bat fatality risk at wind farms. Biological Conservation 157:178–186.
  31. Baerwald, E. F., J. Edworthy, M. Holder, and R. M. R. Barclay. 2009. A large-scale mitigation experiment to reduce bat fatalities at wind energy facilities. Journal of Wildlife Management 73:1077-1081.
  32. Arnett, E., G. Johnson, W. Erickson, and C. Hein. 2013a. A synthesis of operational mitigation studies to reduce bat fatalities at wind energy facilities in North America. A report submitted to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Bat Conservation International. Austin, Texas, USA.
  33. Arnett, E. B., C. D. Hein, M. R. Schirmacher, M. M. Huso, and J. M. Szewczak. 2013b. Evaluating the effectiveness of an ultrasonic acoustic deterrent for reducing bat fatalities at wind turbines.
  34. Peterson 2016, NWCC presentation
  35. Martin, C. M., E. B. Arnett, R. D. Stevens, and M. C. Wallace. 2017. Reducing bat fatalities at wind facilities while improving the economic efficiency of operational mitigation. Journal of Mammalogy 98.
  36. Curry, A., 2015. Wind Industry Plans Serious Changes to Protect Bats. [Online]
    Available at: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/energy/2015/09/150902-wind-industry-feathering-to-help-protect-bats/ [Accessed October 2018].
  37. Gorresen, M. M., P. M. Cryan, D. C. Dalton, S. Wolf, J. A. Johnson, C. M. Todd, and F. J. Bonaccorso. 2015. Dim ultraviolet light as a means of deterring activity by the Hawaiian hoary bat Lasiurus cinereus semotus. Endangered Species Research 28:249–257.
  38. Amanda Hale, Texas Christian University, unpublished data