Data from: Collision sensitive niche profile of the worst affected bird-groups at wind turbine structures in the federal state of Brandenburg, Germany

Biodiversity-related impacts at wind energy facilities have increasingly become a cause of conservation concern, central issue being the collision of birds. Utilizing spatial information of their carcass detections at wind turbines (WTs), we quantified the detections in relation to the metric distances of the respective turbines to different land-use types. We used ecological niche factor analysis (ENFA) to identify combinations of land-use distances with respect to the spatial allocation of WTs that led to higher proportions of collisions among the worst affected bird-groups: Buntings, Crows, Larks, Pigeons and Raptors. We also assessed their respective similarities to the collision phenomenon by checking for overlaps amongst their distance combinations. Crows and Larks showed the narrowest “collision sensitive niche”; a part of ecological niche under higher risk of collisions with turbines, followed by that of Buntings and Pigeons. Raptors had the broadest niche showing significant overlaps with the collision sensitive niches of the other groups. This can probably be attributed to their larger home range combined with their hunting affinities to open landscapes. Identification of collision sensitive niches could be a powerful tool for landscape planning; helping avoid regions with higher risks of collisions for turbine allocations and thus protecting sensitive bird populations.

风能设施对生物多样性造成的影响日益成为保护学界关注的议题，其中核心问题为鸟类撞击风力涡轮机事故。本研究借助风力涡轮机（Wind Turbines, WTs）区域内鸟类尸体发现点的空间信息，量化了各涡轮机与不同土地利用类型的距离与尸体发现量之间的关联。本研究采用生态位因子分析（Ecological Niche Factor Analysis, ENFA），针对受撞击影响最严重的鸟类类群——鹀类、鸦类、百灵类、鸽类与猛禽，识别出与风力涡轮机空间布局相关的、会导致更高撞击比例的土地利用距离组合。同时，本研究通过分析各类群距离组合的重叠情况，评估了它们与撞击现象的相似性。研究结果显示，鸦类与百灵类的撞击敏感生态位（collision sensitive niche，即面临更高涡轮撞击风险的生态位子集）最为狭窄，其次为鹀类与鸽类；猛禽的生态位最广，且与其他类群的撞击敏感生态位存在显著重叠。这一现象或可归因于猛禽更大的活动家域，以及它们对开阔生境的捕猎偏好。撞击敏感生态位的识别可作为景观规划的有力工具，有助于在涡轮机布局时规避高撞击风险区域，从而保护敏感鸟类种群。