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.