Aquatic Habitat Bird Occurrences at Photovoltaic Solar Energy Development in Southern California, USA

The development of photovoltaic (PV) utility-scale solar energy (USSE) in the desert Southwest has the potential to negatively affect birds through collision mortality. Based on early patterns in fatality monitoring data, the lake effect hypothesis (LEH) was developed and suggested that birds misint...

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Autores principales:	Karl Kosciuch, Daniel Riser-Espinoza, Cyrus Moqtaderi, Wallace Erickson
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	MDPI AG 2021
Materias:	photovoltaic solar birds fatality lake effect attraction development Biology (General) QH301-705.5
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/4abdc717162e420bbdfff11aac69e3d2
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:4abdc717162e420bbdfff11aac69e3d22021-11-25T17:22:22ZAquatic Habitat Bird Occurrences at Photovoltaic Solar Energy Development in Southern California, USA10.3390/d131105241424-2818https://doaj.org/article/4abdc717162e420bbdfff11aac69e3d22021-10-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/13/11/524https://doaj.org/toc/1424-2818The development of photovoltaic (PV) utility-scale solar energy (USSE) in the desert Southwest has the potential to negatively affect birds through collision mortality. Based on early patterns in fatality monitoring data, the lake effect hypothesis (LEH) was developed and suggested that birds misinterpret PV solar panels for water. As the LEH was only recently defined and inference beyond bird mortality is limited, our research objective was to examine the species composition, abundance, and distribution of live and dead aquatic habitat birds at five PV solar facilities and paired reference areas in southern California. Further, we collected data from a small regional lake as an indicator of the potential aquatic habitat bird community that could occur at our study sites. Using an ordination analysis, we found the lake grouped away from the other study sites. Although the bird community (live and dead) at the solar facilities contained aquatic habitat species, Chao’s diversity was higher, and standardized use was more than an order of magnitude higher at the lake. Finally, we did not observe aquatic habitat bird fatalities in the desert/scrub and grassland reference areas. Thus, the idea of a “lake effect” in which aquatic habitat birds perceive a PV USSE facility as a waterbody and are broadly attracted is likely a nuanced process as a PV solar facility is unlikely to provide a signal of a lake to all aquatic habitat birds at all times.Karl KosciuchDaniel Riser-EspinozaCyrus MoqtaderiWallace EricksonMDPI AGarticlephotovoltaic solarbirdsfatalitylake effectattractiondevelopmentBiology (General)QH301-705.5ENDiversity, Vol 13, Iss 524, p 524 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	photovoltaic solar birds fatality lake effect attraction development Biology (General) QH301-705.5
spellingShingle	photovoltaic solar birds fatality lake effect attraction development Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Karl Kosciuch Daniel Riser-Espinoza Cyrus Moqtaderi Wallace Erickson Aquatic Habitat Bird Occurrences at Photovoltaic Solar Energy Development in Southern California, USA
description	The development of photovoltaic (PV) utility-scale solar energy (USSE) in the desert Southwest has the potential to negatively affect birds through collision mortality. Based on early patterns in fatality monitoring data, the lake effect hypothesis (LEH) was developed and suggested that birds misinterpret PV solar panels for water. As the LEH was only recently defined and inference beyond bird mortality is limited, our research objective was to examine the species composition, abundance, and distribution of live and dead aquatic habitat birds at five PV solar facilities and paired reference areas in southern California. Further, we collected data from a small regional lake as an indicator of the potential aquatic habitat bird community that could occur at our study sites. Using an ordination analysis, we found the lake grouped away from the other study sites. Although the bird community (live and dead) at the solar facilities contained aquatic habitat species, Chao’s diversity was higher, and standardized use was more than an order of magnitude higher at the lake. Finally, we did not observe aquatic habitat bird fatalities in the desert/scrub and grassland reference areas. Thus, the idea of a “lake effect” in which aquatic habitat birds perceive a PV USSE facility as a waterbody and are broadly attracted is likely a nuanced process as a PV solar facility is unlikely to provide a signal of a lake to all aquatic habitat birds at all times.
format	article
author	Karl Kosciuch Daniel Riser-Espinoza Cyrus Moqtaderi Wallace Erickson
author_facet	Karl Kosciuch Daniel Riser-Espinoza Cyrus Moqtaderi Wallace Erickson
author_sort	Karl Kosciuch
title	Aquatic Habitat Bird Occurrences at Photovoltaic Solar Energy Development in Southern California, USA
title_short	Aquatic Habitat Bird Occurrences at Photovoltaic Solar Energy Development in Southern California, USA
title_full	Aquatic Habitat Bird Occurrences at Photovoltaic Solar Energy Development in Southern California, USA
title_fullStr	Aquatic Habitat Bird Occurrences at Photovoltaic Solar Energy Development in Southern California, USA
title_full_unstemmed	Aquatic Habitat Bird Occurrences at Photovoltaic Solar Energy Development in Southern California, USA
title_sort	aquatic habitat bird occurrences at photovoltaic solar energy development in southern california, usa
publisher	MDPI AG
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/4abdc717162e420bbdfff11aac69e3d2
work_keys_str_mv	AT karlkosciuch aquatichabitatbirdoccurrencesatphotovoltaicsolarenergydevelopmentinsoutherncaliforniausa AT danielriserespinoza aquatichabitatbirdoccurrencesatphotovoltaicsolarenergydevelopmentinsoutherncaliforniausa AT cyrusmoqtaderi aquatichabitatbirdoccurrencesatphotovoltaicsolarenergydevelopmentinsoutherncaliforniausa AT wallaceerickson aquatichabitatbirdoccurrencesatphotovoltaicsolarenergydevelopmentinsoutherncaliforniausa
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Aquatic Habitat Bird Occurrences at Photovoltaic Solar Energy Development in Southern California, USA

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