Increased demand for renewable energy has led to growth in the use of land for electricity generation and associated infrastructure. Land-based wind farms are amongst the commonest generators of renewable energy. To date, most research on the effects of wind farms on wildlife have focussed on birds and bats, with very little work on terrestrial taxa. We hypothesised that widely reported negative effects of wind farms on predatory birds might benefit potential prey species. We focussed on reptiles due to concerns over worldwide declines in this group. We compared avian attack rates on clay model snakes at a site in Caithness UK within a wind farm relative to a control site of the same topography and habitat class, 1 km away, using life-sized clay models of adder Vipera berus, a widespread but declining Palaearctic species. Attack rates at the control site were comparable with similar studies elsewhere in Europe. However, we found that attack rates were lower within wind farm arrays, although several species of bird known to prey on reptiles were observed both within the wind farm and the control site. Therefore, given the high rate of loss to avian predators experienced in reptile reintroduction and reinforcement projects, wind farm sites may offer safe-havens, representing a neglected opportunity in reptile conservation. Grazing by sheep severely offset this benefit, presumably through removal of plant cover which was apparent in those areas of the wind farm where sheep were allowed access; grazing must thus be managed carefully for these benefits to be realised.

中文翻译：

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量化基础设施和控制点之间的爬行动物鸟类感染率差异

对可再生能源的需求增加导致发电和相关基础设施的土地使用量增加。陆地风电场是最常见的可再生能源发电者。迄今为止，关于风电场对野生生物的影响的大多数研究都集中在鸟类和蝙蝠上，而关于陆地生物分类的工作很少。我们假设风电场对掠食性鸟类的负面影响可能得到广泛报道，这可能会使潜在的猎物物种受益。由于关注该群体在全球范围内的下降，我们专注于爬行动物。我们使用加法Vi蛇per的真人大小粘土模型，比较了凯斯内斯英国某风电场内某地点相对于相同地形和栖息地类别的控制地点（距离1公里）对粘土模型蛇的鸟类袭击率。，是一种广泛但正在下降的古北种。控制地点的袭击率与欧洲其他地方的类似研究相当。但是，我们发现，尽管在风电场和控制地点都观察到几种已知会捕食爬行动物的鸟类，但在风电场阵列中的袭击率较低。因此，鉴于在爬行动物的重新引入和加固项目中鸟类掠食者遭受的损失很高，因此风电场可能提供避风港，这代表了爬行动物保护中被忽略的机会。放牧绵羊可能严重抵消了这种好处，大概是通过去除了植物覆盖物，这在风电场允许绵羊进入的地区很明显；因此，必须谨慎管理放牧，以实现这些好处。