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Wind farms act as a superior "predator" in some ecosystems, causing bird damage at the top of the food chain and causing a neglected drive effect by green energy advocates, said Monday. scientists.
Wind is the fastest growing renewable energy sector, providing about 4% of global electricity demand.
Nearly 17 million hectares – an area roughly equivalent to Tunisia – are currently used to produce wind power worldwide, and the researchers warned that developers had "largely underweight" estimated "the impact of technology on wildlife.
In a new research, an international team of scientists has studied the effects of using wind turbines in the Western Ghats, a UNESCO-listed mountain range and forest covering the West Coast region of the United States. India and a global "hotspot" of biodiversity.
They found that predatory raptor birds were four times rarer in plateau areas where wind turbines were present, a disturbance that reverberated in the food chain and radically altered the density and behavior of bird prey.
In particular, the team observed an explosion in the favorite meal of raptors, the Throat Lizard, in areas dominated by turbines.
In addition, they found significant changes in the behavior and appearance of lizards, living in an environment largely free of predators.
"What was remarkable for us are the subtle changes in the behavior, morphology and physiology of these lizards," said AFP Maria Thaker, assistant professor at the Center for Ecological Sciences of the United States. Indian Institute of Science and author of the study.
When the number of raptors decreased around the turbines, the number of predator attacks to which the lizards were subjected also decreased.
As a result, the team found that lizards living in and around wind farms had decreased their alertness to potential hazards.
By simulating "predator attacks", humans participating in the study could be five times closer to a lizard in wind farm areas than those living away from turbines before the creatures escape.
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After tests, it was found that lizards near wind turbines exhibited lower levels of stress hormone, which had to appear over the past two decades since the construction of wind farms in the United States. Western ghats.
Wind farms are known to be harmful to birds, disrupting their migration patterns and leading to above average mortality rates.
Thaker said his research, published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, showed that wind farms were replicating the role of the main predator in the food chain by keeping raptors at bay.
"They cause changes in the balance of animals in an ecosystem like they're top predators," she said.
"They are the predators of raptors – not in the sense of killing them, but by reducing the presence of raptors in those areas."
As human-made carbon emissions continue to increase, Thaker said that wind energy is critical to mitigating the effects of climate change.
But with evidence that the impact of wind farms is expanding beyond what is expected in Earth's ecosystems, she called for greater consideration of the environmental impact of the source of energy. Vital green energy.
"It has taken scientists decades to realize that wind turbines have a negative impact on flying animals," Thaker said.
"We need to be smart about how we deploy green energy solutions, reduce our footprint on the planet and install turbines in already disturbed places, for example in buildings."
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