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相关影响日益受到保护生物学领域的关注，其中核心问题为鸟类与风力涡轮机（Wind Turbines, WTs）的碰撞事故。本研究利用鸟类在风力涡轮机处发现的尸体空间分布信息，量化了各涡轮机与不同土地利用类型之间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），针对受碰撞影响最严重的鸟类类群——鹀类（Buntings）、鸦类（Crows）、百灵类（Larks）、鸽类（Pigeons）和猛禽（Raptors），结合风力涡轮机的空间布局，识别出与更高碰撞比例相关的土地利用距离组合。此外，本研究通过比对各类群的距离组合重叠情况，评估了它们各自与碰撞现象的关联相似性。研究结果显示，鸦类与百灵类展现出最狭窄的“碰撞敏感生态位”——即面临更高涡轮机碰撞风险的生态位子集，其次为鹀类与鸽类。猛禽的生态位最宽泛，且与其他类群的碰撞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范围，以及它们对开阔生境的狩猎偏好。碰撞敏感生态位的识别可成为景观规划的有力工具，有助于在涡轮机布局时规避碰撞风险较高的区域，进而保护受威胁的鸟类种群。