Changes in diversity and species composition in the assemblage of live and dead bats at wind farms in a highly diverse region

• Published in: Environmental monitoring and assessment Vol. 195; no. 12; p. 1480
• Main Authors: Cabrera-Cruz, Sergio A., Aguilar López, José Luis, Aguilar-Rodríguez, Pedro A., Oropeza-Sánchez, Marco T., Muñoz Jiménez, Oscar, Villegas Patraca, Rafael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.12.2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aerial surveys; Animals; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Bats; Carcasses; Chiroptera; Collision mortality; Community composition; Composition; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecology; Ecotoxicology; Energy-Generating Resources; Environment; Environmental Management; Environmental Monitoring; Farms; Insectivores; Monitoring/Environmental Analysis; Mortality; Searching; Species composition; Species diversity; Wind; Wind effects; Wind farms; Wind power; Community structure; Mexico; Bat mortality; Wind energy; Diversity; Isthmus of Tehuantepec
• ISSN: 0167-6369; 1573-2959
• DOI: 10.1007/s10661-023-12090-z

Besides direct mortality, wind farms also affect aerial fauna by modifying their communities, reducing species diversity and richness through disturbance. During three consecutive years, we used mist nets and acoustic recorders, and conducted carcass searches, to characterize the assemblage of bat species and to estimate bat mortality at two nearby wind farms sited <5 km apart in a highly biodiverse region. We asked whether the diversity, richness and evenness of the assemblages varied yearly, predicting it would decrease through time. Richness and evenness did not change, but the diversity of species recorded acoustically, 96% being aerial insectivores, was significantly lower the third year. We estimate 4 – 15.7 fatalities/MW/year by wind farm, with 63% of species found as carcasses being aerial insectivores. We found >40% of dissimilarity in the species composition of bat assemblages between wind farms despite the short distance between them, with species turnover accounting for more than half of the dissimilarity every year. Similarly, species turnover accounted for >15% of the dissimilarity in the composition of the assemblage of live bats (captured and recorded acoustically) and the assemblage obtained through carcass searches. Our findings suggest that nearby wind farms impact bat communities differentially and aerial insectivores disproportionally. Long term, multi-method surveys are needed to characterize bat communities in highly diverse regions and to evaluate the post-construction effects that wind farms have on them.