Reproductive success of Horned Lark and McCown's Longspur in relation to wind energy infrastructure

The condor

¹ 

关键词: wind facility;    grassland bird;    nest success;    turbine density;    turbine proximity;    habitat;   

DOI  :  10.1650/CONDOR-15-25.1

学科分类：动物科学

来源: Central Ornithology Publication Office

【 摘 要 】

ABSTRACT Wind energy is a rapidly expanding industry with potential indirect effects to wildlife populations that are largely unexplored. In 2011 and 2012, we monitored 211 nests of 2 grassland songbirds, Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris) and McCown's Longspur (Rhynchophanes mccownii), at 3 wind farms and 2 undeveloped reference sites in Wyoming, USA. We evaluated several indices of reproductive investment and success: clutch size, size-adjusted nestling mass, daily nest survival rate, and number of fledglings. We compared reproductive success between wind farms and undeveloped sites and modeled reproductive success within wind farms as a function of wind energy infrastructure and habitat. Size-adjusted nestling mass of Horned Lark was weakly negatively related to turbine density. In 2011, nest survival of Horned Lark decreased 55% as turbine density increased from 10 to 39 within 2 km of the nest. In 2012, however, nest survival of Horned Lark was best predicted by the combination of vegetation height, ...

【 授权许可】

CC BY