@article{VoigtKaiserLooketal.2022,
  author    = {Voigt, Christian C. and Kaiser, Klara and Look, Samantha and Scharnweber, Inga Kristin and Scholz, Carolin},
  title     = {Wind turbines without curtailment produce large numbers of bat fatalities throughout their lifetime},
  series = {Global ecology and conservation},
  volume    = {37},
  journal   = {Global ecology and conservation},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {Amsterdam},
  issn      = {2351-9894},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.gecco.2022.e02149},
  pages     = {10},
  year      = {2022},
  abstract  = {Bats are protected by national and international legislation in European countries, yet many species, particularly migratory aerial insectivores, collide with wind turbines which counteracts conservation efforts. Within the European Union it is legally required to curtail the operation of wind turbines at periods of high bat activity, yet this is not practiced at old wind turbines. Based on data from the national carcass repository in Germany and from our own carcass searches at a wind park with three turbines west of Berlin, we evaluated the magnitude of bat casualties at old, potentially poor-sited wind turbines operating without curtailment. We report 88 documented bat carcasses collected by various searchers over the 20-year operation period of this wind park from 2001 to 2021. Common noctule bats (Nyctalus noctula) and common pipistrelles (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) were most often found dead at these turbines. Our search campaign in August and September 2021 yielded a total of 18 carcasses. We estimated that at least 209 bats were likely killed during our field survey, yielding more than 70 casualties/wind turbine or 39 casualties/ MW in two months. Since our campaign covered only part of the migration season, we consider this value as an underestimate. The 20-year period of the wind park emphasises the substantial impact old turbines may have on bat individuals and populations when operating without curtailments. We call for reconsidering the operation procedures of old wind turbines to stop the continuous loss of bats in Germany and other countries where turbine curtailments are even less practiced than in Germany.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{ScholzVoigt2022,
  author    = {Scholz, Carolin and Voigt, Christian C.},
  title     = {Diet analysis of bats killed at wind turbines suggests large-scale losses of trophic interactions},
  series = {Conservation science and practice},
  volume    = {4},
  journal   = {Conservation science and practice},
  number    = {7},
  publisher = {Wiley},
  address   = {Hoboken},
  issn      = {2578-4854},
  doi       = {10.1111/csp2.12744},
  pages     = {12},
  year      = {2022},
  abstract  = {Agricultural practice has led to landscape simplification and biodiversity decline, yet recently, energy-producing infrastructures, such as wind turbines, have been added to these simplified agroecosystems, turning them into multi-functional energy-agroecosystems. Here, we studied the trophic interactions of bats killed at wind turbines using a DNA metabarcoding approach to shed light on how turbine-related bat fatalities may possibly affect local habitats. Specifically, we identified insect DNA in the stomachs of common noctule bats (Nyctalus noctula) killed by wind turbines in Germany to infer in which habitats these bats hunted. Common noctule bats consumed a wide variety of insects from different habitats, ranging from aquatic to terrestrial ecosystems (e.g., wetlands, farmland, forests, and grasslands). Agricultural and silvicultural pest insects made up about 20\% of insect species consumed by the studied bats. Our study suggests that the potential damage of wind energy production goes beyond the loss of bats and the decline of bat populations. Bat fatalities at wind turbines may lead to the loss of trophic interactions and ecosystem services provided by bats, which may add to the functional simplification and impaired crop production, respectively, in multi-functional ecosystems.},
  language  = {en}
}