When the excrement hits the fan: Fecal surveys reveal species-specific bat activity at wind turbines |
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| Affiliation: | 1. School of Geology, Energy & the Environment, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX 76129, USA;2. Department of Biology, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX 76129, USA;1. North Carolina Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit, Department of Applied Ecology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, United States;2. Department of Applied Ecology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, United States;3. U.S. Geological Survey, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD, United States;1. Mammalogy Section, Zoology Department, National Museums of Kenya, P.O. Box 40658-00100, Nairobi, Kenya;2. Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, 00-679 Warszawa, Poland;3. Biology Department, Lund University, SE-223 62 Lund, Sweden;1. Department of Wildlife Ecology & Conservation, University of Florida, 110 Newins Ziegler Hall, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA;2. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Eswatini, Private Bag 4, Kwaluseni, Eswatini and Mammal Research Institute, Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa;1. Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, Unit of Evolutionary Biology/Systematic Zoology, University of Potsdam, 14476 Potsdam, Germany;2. Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent’s Park, London NW1 4RY, United Kingdom;3. Observatoire Pelagis, UMS3462 University of Rochelle, Pôle analytique-5, Allée de l''Océan, 17000 La Rochelle, France;4. Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Department of Pathobiology, Yalelaan 1, 3584 CL Utrecht, The Netherlands;5. Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Werftstr. 6, 25761, Büsum, Germany;1. Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Abingdon Road, Tubney House, Tubney, Oxfordshire OX135QL, UK;2. Endocrinology Laboratory, German Primate Center, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen, Germany;1. Departamento de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto, Agencia Postal No. 3, 5800 Río Cuarto, Córdoba, Argentina;2. Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Virales Humanas (INEVH), Monteagudo y Sabino, 2700 Pergamino, Buenos Aires, Argentina |
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| Abstract: | The reasons why bats are coming into contact with wind turbines are not yet well understood. One hypothesis is that bats are attracted to wind turbines and this attraction may be because bats perceive or misperceive the turbines to provide a resource, such as a foraging or roosting site. During post-construction fatality searches at a wind energy facility in the southern Great Plains, U.S., we discovered bat feces near the base of a wind turbine tower, which led us to hypothesize that bats were actively roosting and/or foraging at turbines. Thus over 2 consecutive years, we conducted systematic searches for bat feces on turbines at this site. We collected 72 bat fecal samples from turbines and successfully extracted DNA from 56 samples. All 6 bat species known to be in the area were confirmed and the majority (59%) were identified as Lasiurus borealis; a species that also comprised the majority of the fatalities (60%) recorded at the site. The presence of bat feces provides further evidence that bats were conducting activities in close proximity to wind turbines. Moreover, feces found in areas such as turbine door slats indicated that bats were using turbines as night or foraging roosts, and further provided evidence that bats were active near the turbines. Future research should therefore aim to identify those features of wind turbines that bats perceive or misperceive as a resource, which in turn may lead to new minimization strategies that effectively reduce bat fatalities at wind farms. |
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| Keywords: | Attraction Bat-wind turbine interactions DNA barcoding Roosting Wind energy |
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