Abstract
The development of photovoltaic (PV) utility-scale solar energy (USSE) in the desert Southwest has the potential to negatively affect birds through collision mortality. Based on early patterns in fatality monitoring data, the lake effect hypothesis (LEH) was developed and suggested that birds misinterpret PV solar panels for water. As the LEH was only recently defined and inference beyond bird mortality is limited, our research objective was to examine the species composition, abundance, and distribution of live and dead aquatic habitat birds at five PV solar facilities and paired reference areas in southern California. Further, we collected data from a small regional lake as an indicator of the potential aquatic habitat bird community that could occur at our study sites. Using an ordination analysis, we found the lake grouped away from the other study sites. Although the bird community (live and dead) at the solar facilities contained aquatic habitat species, Chao’s diversity was higher, and standardized use was more than an order of magnitude higher at the lake. Finally, we did not observe aquatic habitat bird fatalities in the desert/scrub and grassland reference areas. Thus, the idea of a “lake effect” in which aquatic habitat birds perceive a PV USSE facility as a waterbody and are broadly attracted is likely a nuanced process as a PV solar facility is unlikely to provide a signal of a lake to all aquatic habitat birds at all times.
Highlights
The development of photovoltaic (PV) utility-scale solar energy (USSE) in the desert Southwest of the United States of America (USA.) was thought to have the potential to negatively affect birds through habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, and collision mortality with infrastructure, similar to other forms of energy development [1]
In a summary of bird carcasses that were opportunistically obtained from three USSE solar facilities in California, U.S, Kagan et al [3] determined that 48% (27/56) of identifiable remains found at the Desert Sunlight PV USSE facility in California, U.S, were of aquatic habitat birds that foraged in water
The idea of “lake effect” in which birds perceive a PV USSE facility as a waterbody and are attracted is likely a nuanced process as a PV solar facility is unlikely to provide a signal of a lake to all aquatic habitat birds at all times
Summary
The development of photovoltaic (PV) utility-scale solar energy (USSE) in the desert Southwest of the United States of America (USA.) was thought to have the potential to negatively affect birds through habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, and collision mortality with infrastructure, similar to other forms of energy development [1]. The detection of water-obligate and water-associate bird carcasses raised questions about the causal mechanisms responsible for the species’ occurrence because PV solar panels are typically within 4 m (m) of the ground and do not represent a vertical hazard in the airspace similar to other forms of anthropogenic development, such as buildings [5], communication towers [6], and wind turbines [7,8]. Kagan et al [3] stated that the solar panels might be “reminiscent” of bodies of water because some species of aquatic habitat birds (a broad group of birds including water associates and water obligates) should not occur on the ground in a desert environment. The outcome of a “lake effect” at PV USSE facilities could include negative effects on aquatic habitat birds if the causal mechanism occurs broadly across PV USSE facilities and bird species
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