Methodological approaches to assessing population-level impacts of bird collisions with wind turbines: a critical perspective

Abstract

SummaryWind energy is a source of collision fatalities for birds and bats. To evaluate the risk that wind power development projects might pose to the conservation of protected species, it is essential to quantify the impact of collisions on the dynamics of wild populations. To address this challenge, two approaches are primarily employed: potential biological removal (PBR) and population projection analysis (PPA). PBR is a decision rule designed to calculate a sustainable fatality limit for a given population, whereas PPA relies on simulation-based modelling to forecast a population’s future trajectory under various scenarios. In the context of environmental impact assessments (EIAs), we argue that PPA offers a more suitable method than PBR for evaluating population-level impacts resulting from collisions with wind turbines. Unlike PBR, PPA can be focused on a single source of disturbance, aligning with the perspective of the EIA process. By contrast, PBR necessarily adopts a population-centred perspective and is therefore only relevant when considering all sources of mortality that jointly affect a population. Furthermore, robust utilization of the PBR approach requires the definition of quantitative conservation objectives and the implementation of a comprehensive management strategy evaluation, neither of which is ever undertaken within the context of an EIA.