Identifying areas of wetland and wind turbine overlap in the south-central Great Plains of North America
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Identifying areas of wetland and wind turbine overlap in the south-central Great Plains of North America L. J. Heintzman . E. S. Auerbach . D. H. Kilborn . S. M. Starr . K. R. Mulligan . L. S. Barbato . N. E. McIntyre
Received: 17 January 2020 / Accepted: 16 July 2020 Ó Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract Context The North American Great Plains contains [ 80,000 wetlands (playas) that are habitat resources for birds. This region has also undergone recent expansion of wind energy development. Areas of overlap between playas and wind energy structures are potential wildlife hazards. Objectives We identified areas where conservation values of playas may be compromised by proximity to wind turbines.
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-020-01076-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. L. J. Heintzman E. S. Auerbach D. H. Kilborn S. M. Starr N. E. McIntyre (&) Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409-3131, USA e-mail: [email protected] L. J. Heintzman USDA-ARS, 2995 Knox St, Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA E. S. Auerbach School of Accounting, Rawls College of Business, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409-2101, USA
Methods We mapped where playas co-occur with wind-energy structures in a 902,765 km2 area encompassing portions of six U.S. states. At a smaller focal level (59 *458 km2 Christmas Bird Count [CBC] circles), we developed a habitat quality index based on playa area, density, and inundation frequency, and spatially associated values with locations of wind turbines; we then examined CBC data for three focal species from 1984-2015. Results Over 38% of playas were within 8 km of at least one structure, and 1.3% were within 100 m; *90% of turbines/structures were within 8 km of a playa (2.7% within 100 m). Six CBC circles had highquality habitat overlapping with high density of wind turbines. Another seven were high quality with few structures, representing valuable areas for future conservation efforts. However, lack of consistent time-series data constrained our ability to detect effects of wind-energy infrastructure installation on birds. Conclusions Mapping high-quality habitat areas coincident with wind turbines is a way of identifying overlapping areas of wildlife habitat and sources of mortality without relying on population surveys that may be problematic or lacking altogether. Establishment of innovative protocols will be critical for detecting effects of wind-energy installation, a growing economic sector.
K. R. Mulligan L. S. Barbato Department of Geosciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409-3132, USA
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Landscape Ecol
Keywords Christmas bird count Northern Pintail (Anas acuta) Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata) Playa wetland Sandhill Crane (Antigone canadensis)
Introduction The south-central Great Plains of the United States is a region that has recently experienced sig
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