Infrastructure impact

The global energetic challenges we face have lead to an unprecedented development of wind power facilites worldwide. This green energy production has impacts on the avian fauna that cannot be overlooked if it has to be a sustainable way to cover the energy demands of the human societes in the long term. Direct collision with the blades of wind turbines is known to affect both bats and birds populations. A proper understanding of the conditions and circumstances under which the colisions take place is paramount to ensure that we do not compound the current biodiversity crisis in our efforts to lower the greenhouse gas emissions.

Our research group works on the development and testing of survey protocols to assess the potential and actual impact any wind power implementation may have on bats, devising novel methods and tools to more accurately assess the risk of collision.

We furnish the local governmental agencies with tools to estimate the collision risk associated to bat activity thresholds, to improve the mortality rates estimation, and with up to date information on the best practices and technical adjustments to reconcile the wind farms with the biodiversity preservation.