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.

风力发电设施对生物多样性造成的影响日益引发保护学界的关注，其中最为核心的问题当属鸟类与风力涡轮机的碰撞事故。本研究借助在风力涡轮机（WTs）处发现的鸟类尸体的空间信息，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），针对受影响最严重的鸟类类群——鹀类、鸦类、百灵类、鸽类与猛禽类，识别出与风力涡轮机空间布局相关的、会导致更高碰撞比例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。结果显示，鸦类与百灵类展现出最狭窄的"碰撞敏感生态位"——即处于更高涡轮机碰撞风险中的生态位部分，紧随其后的是鹀类与鸽类。猛禽类的生态位最宽泛，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其更大的活动家域，以及对开阔生境的捕猎偏好。识别碰撞敏感生态位可成为景观规划的有力工具，有助于在风力涡轮机布局时规避高碰撞风险区域，从而保护敏感鸟类种群。