Hi Laura,
I work with a group at the University of North Carolina's Institute of Marine
Sciences that recently published a study online about the expected
environmental interactions of a proposed offshore wind farm with a range of
wildlife, including birds, bats, and monarch butterflies. In a nutshell, we
did not find any evidence that the risk of wind turbines to monarchs is high
enough to limit turbine development. This is in part due to the fact that
butterflies are not expected to be very abundant in most of our study sites,
however, so if your study is terrestrial you may face different issues. Some
research done on butterfly mortality by cars suggests that the speed (of the
rotating blade, in this case) may influence risk to butterflies, with higher
speeds actually causing lower expected mortality. Anyway, in case you want to
read more on what we concluded about birds, bats, butterflies, etc., the link
to our study (Chapter 2 of full report) is:
http://www.climate.unc.edu/coastal-windHope that helps and good
luck,
Joan Meiners
> Date: Sun, 6 Sep 2009 20:30:58 -0400
> From: [email protected]
> Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Monarchs and Wind Turbines
> To: [email protected]
>
> Hello. I am a recent graduate with an MS in biology. I and currently
> doing mortality searches for birds and bats at a wind turbine facility. I
> am curious if anyone has researched the impact of turbines on Monarchs. I
> know they often fly at relatively high altitudes while migrating. Has any
> research been done in this area, or has there been a noticeable drop in
> their population correlated to the growth of wind facilities?
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