TY - JOUR
T1 - Turbines and Terrestrial Vertebrates
T2 - Variation in Tortoise Survivorship Between a Wind Energy Facility and an Adjacent Undisturbed Wildland Area in the Desert Southwest (USA)
AU - Agha, Mickey
AU - Lovich, Jeffrey E.
AU - Ennen, Joshua R.
AU - Augustine, Benjamin
AU - Arundel, Terence R.
AU - Murphy, Mason O.
AU - Meyer-Wilkins, Kathie
AU - Bjurlin, Curtis
AU - Delaney, David
AU - Briggs, Jessica
AU - Austin, Meaghan
AU - Madrak, Sheila V.
AU - Price, Steven J.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York.
PY - 2015/8/3
Y1 - 2015/8/3
N2 - With the recent increase in utility-scale wind energy development, researchers have become increasingly concerned how this activity will affect wildlife and their habitat. To understand the potential impacts of wind energy facilities (WEF) post-construction (i.e., operation and maintenance) on wildlife, we compared differences in activity centers and survivorship of Agassiz’s desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) inside or near a WEF to neighboring tortoises living near a wilderness area (NWA) and farther from the WEF. We found that the size of tortoise activity centers varied, but not significantly so, between the WEF (6.25 ± 2.13 ha) and adjacent NWA (4.13 ± 1.23 ha). However, apparent survival did differ significantly between the habitat types: over the 18-year study period apparent annual survival estimates were 0.96 ± 0.01 for WEF tortoises and 0.92 ± 0.02 for tortoises in the NWA. High annual survival suggests that operation and maintenance of the WEF has not caused considerable declines in the adult population over the past two decades. Low traffic volume, enhanced resource availability, and decreased predator populations may influence annual survivorship at this WEF. Further research on these proximate mechanisms and population recruitment would be useful for mitigating and managing post-development impacts of utility-scale wind energy on long-lived terrestrial vertebrates.
AB - With the recent increase in utility-scale wind energy development, researchers have become increasingly concerned how this activity will affect wildlife and their habitat. To understand the potential impacts of wind energy facilities (WEF) post-construction (i.e., operation and maintenance) on wildlife, we compared differences in activity centers and survivorship of Agassiz’s desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) inside or near a WEF to neighboring tortoises living near a wilderness area (NWA) and farther from the WEF. We found that the size of tortoise activity centers varied, but not significantly so, between the WEF (6.25 ± 2.13 ha) and adjacent NWA (4.13 ± 1.23 ha). However, apparent survival did differ significantly between the habitat types: over the 18-year study period apparent annual survival estimates were 0.96 ± 0.01 for WEF tortoises and 0.92 ± 0.02 for tortoises in the NWA. High annual survival suggests that operation and maintenance of the WEF has not caused considerable declines in the adult population over the past two decades. Low traffic volume, enhanced resource availability, and decreased predator populations may influence annual survivorship at this WEF. Further research on these proximate mechanisms and population recruitment would be useful for mitigating and managing post-development impacts of utility-scale wind energy on long-lived terrestrial vertebrates.
KW - Activity center
KW - Desert tortoise
KW - Gopherus agassizii
KW - Landscape disturbance
KW - Renewable energy
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84934437432&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00267-015-0498-9
DO - 10.1007/s00267-015-0498-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 25894273
AN - SCOPUS:84934437432
SN - 0364-152X
VL - 56
SP - 332
EP - 341
JO - Environmental Management
JF - Environmental Management
IS - 2
ER -