Estimating the indirect impact of wind farms on breeding bird assemblages: a case study in the central Apennines

Abstract

In 2011 and 2012 we carried out a monitoring study to evaluate the indirect impacts of a wind farm on the breeding bird assemblages in a high-altitude secondary prairie area of the central Apennines (Italy). We used the point count method to compare the breeding birds at species and assemblage level, using the wind farm area (36 windmills) as treatment and an equivalent habitat surface as control. We did not observe any significant difference between treatment and control areas at species level (25 species detected, seven of conservation concern at European level), in terms of species abundance frequency, and at assemblage level, in terms of species richness or assemblage structure (k-dominance plots), even if lower evenness values were detected in the control sites. Our preliminary results gave no evidence of an indirect impact of the wind farm on breeding bird assemblages, mainly composed of small passerines, in these mountain ecosystems. However, further studies should be performed to deepen the relationships between indirect impact of wind farms and site-specific characteristics.