Renewable energy sources such as wind energy are an essential tool for reducing the causes of climate change, but wind turbines can pose a collision risk for bats. To date, the population-level effects of wind-related mortality have only been estimated for a single bat species. To estimate temporal trends in bat abundance, we considered wind turbines as opportunistic sampling tools for flying bats (analogous to fishing nets), where catch per unit effort (carcass abundance per monitored turbine) is a proxy for aerial abundance of bats, after accounting for seasonal variation in activity. We leveraged a large dataset of standardized bat carcass searches from 594 turbines in southern Ontario, Canada, correcting for surveyor efficiency and scavenger removal. We used Bayesian hierarchical models to estimate temporal trends in aerial abundance of bats and explore the effect of spatial factors (including landscape features associated with bat habitat, such as wetlands, croplands and forested lands) on the number of mortalities for each species. We found strong evidence of rapid declines in the abundance of four species in our study areas, with declines in "capture" of carcasses over seven years ranging from 65% (big brown bat) to 91% (silver-haired bat). Estimated declines were independent of the effects of mitigation (increasing turbine cut-in speed from 3.5 to 5.5 m/s), which significantly reduced but did not eliminate bat mortality. Late-summer mortality of hoary, eastern red, and silver-haired bats was predicted by woodlot cover, while mortality of big brown bats decreased with increasing elevation. These landscape predictors of bat mortality can inform the siting of future wind energy operations. Nevertheless, our most important result is the apparent decline in abundance of four "common" species of bat in the airspace, which requires further investigation. Article impact statement: Data from 594 wind turbines suggest rapid declines in abundance for four "common" species of bat, and identify spatial predictors of bat mortality at turbines. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

中文翻译：

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从风力涡轮机收集的死亡率数据估计蝙蝠数量的时空趋势

风能等可再生能源是减少气候变化原因的重要工具，但风力涡轮机可能会对蝙蝠造成碰撞风险。迄今为止，仅针对单一蝙蝠物种估计了与风相关的死亡率对种群水平的影响。为了估计蝙蝠丰度的时间趋势，我们将风力涡轮机视为飞行蝙蝠的机会采样工具（类似于渔网），其中每单位努力的捕获量（每个受监控涡轮机的尸体丰度）是蝙蝠空中丰度的代表，在考虑了活动的季节性变化。我们利用了来自加拿大安大略省南部 594 台涡轮机的标准化蝙蝠尸体搜索的大型数据集，对测量员效率和清道夫去除进行了校正。我们使用贝叶斯分层模型来估计蝙蝠空中丰度的时间趋势，并探索空间因素（包括与蝙蝠栖息地相关的景观特征，如湿地、农田和林地）对每个物种死亡率的影响。我们发现了我们研究区域四种物种丰度迅速下降的有力证据，七年来“捕获”尸体的数量下降了 65%（大棕色蝙蝠）到 91%（银毛蝙蝠）。估计的下降与缓解效果（将涡轮机切入速度从 3.5 增加到 5.5 m / s）无关，这显着降低了但并未消除蝙蝠死亡率。林地覆盖预测了白头蝙蝠、东方红蝙蝠和银毛蝙蝠的夏末死亡率，而大棕蝠的死亡率随着海拔的升高而降低。这些蝙蝠死亡率的景观预测因子​​可以为未来风能运营的选址提供信息。尽管如此，我们最重要的结果是空域中四种“常见”蝙蝠的数量明显下降，这需要进一步调查。文章影响声明：来自 594 台风力涡轮机的数据表明四种“常见”蝙蝠种类的数量迅速下降，并确定了涡轮机蝙蝠死亡率的空间预测因子。本文受版权保护。版权所有。这需要进一步调查。文章影响声明：来自 594 台风力涡轮机的数据表明四种“常见”蝙蝠种类的数量迅速下降，并确定了涡轮机蝙蝠死亡率的空间预测因子。本文受版权保护。版权所有。这需要进一步调查。文章影响声明：来自 594 台风力涡轮机的数据表明四种“常见”蝙蝠种类的数量迅速下降，并确定了涡轮机蝙蝠死亡率的空间预测因子。本文受版权保护。版权所有。