&lt;b&gt;Do Black-naped Hares &lt;I&gt;Lepus nigricollis&lt;/I&gt; (Mammalia: Lagomorpha: Leporidae) have synanthropic association with wind farms?&lt;/b&gt;

V Anoop,Rajah Jaypal,P.R Arun

doi:10.11609/jott.3411.10.7.11925-11927

<b>Do Black-naped Hares <I>Lepus nigricollis</I> (Mammalia: Lagomorpha: Leporidae) have synanthropic association with wind farms?</b>

V Anoop, Rajah Jaypal + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.3411.10.7.11925-11927

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Abstract

Wind energy is an upcoming major source of clean energy. The unprecedented proliferation of wind farms across landscapes has raised concerns on the environmental impacts. Generally reported direct impacts of wind farms include collision of birds and bats with turbines, habitat alterations, noise pollution from the turbines, aesthetic impact on landscapes and displacement of faunal species. Here we report our preliminary results indicating an apparent positive association of Indian Hares Lepus nigricollis with a wind farm in a scrub forest area. This study was conducted at Harada Reserve Forest near Harapanahalli of Davangere District, Karnataka, India. The pellet count method was used for comparing the abundance of the species between areas. The abundance of Indian Hares in wind farm area was significantly higher than in the surrounding forest area without turbines. The factors that might be affecting this pattern of preferential use of wind farm area by the Indian Hare are discussed and the scope for further studies also highlighted.

Highlights

The traditional non-renewable energy from finite resources such as petroleum, coal and nuclear energy entailing high environmental impacts is unsustainable in the long run and there is increasing global attention towards renewable energy like solar and wind
We examined whether the habitat use of the Indian Hare in and around a wind farm shows any evidence of synanthropism
The role of various possible determinant variables that might have caused this difference was not examined during this study, this result throws up a lot of new questions on the response of mammals to wind farm sites

Summary

Introduction

The traditional non-renewable energy from finite resources such as petroleum, coal and nuclear energy entailing high environmental impacts is unsustainable in the long run and there is increasing global attention towards renewable energy like solar and wind. Black-naped Hares and wind farms farm sites (Arun et al 2015). Though the installation of wind farms started in India in the early 80s, studies on impact of wind farms on wild species is scarce from Indian subcontinent (Pande et al 2013; Arun et al 2014, 2015).

Results

Conclusion