Abstract
To meet the expanding land use required for wind energy development, a better understanding of the effects on terrestrial animals’ responses to such development is required. Using GPS‐data from 50 freely ranging female reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) in the Malå reindeer herding community, Sweden, we determined reindeer calving sites and estimated reindeer habitat selection using resource selection functions (RSF). RSFs were estimated at both second‐ (selection of home range) and third‐order (selection within home range) scale in relation to environmental variables, wind farm (WF) development phase (before construction, construction, and operation), distance to the WFs and at the second‐order scale whether the wind turbines were in or out of sight of the reindeer. We found that the distance between reindeer calving site and WFs increased during the operation phase, compared to before construction. At both scales of selection, we found a significant decrease in habitat selection of areas in proximity of the WFs, in the same comparison. The results also revealed a shift in home range selection away from habitats where wind turbines became visible toward habitats where the wind turbines were obscured by topography (increase in use by 79% at 5 km). We interpret the reindeer shift in home range selection as an effect of the wind turbines per se. Using topography and land cover information together with the positions of wind turbines could therefore help identify sensitive habitats for reindeer and improve the planning and placement of WFs. In addition, we found that operation phase of these WFs had a stronger adverse impact on reindeer habitat selection than the construction phase. Thus, the continuous running of the wind turbines making a sound both day and night seemed to have disturbed the reindeer more than the sudden sounds and increased human activity during construction work.
Highlights
The demand for renewable energy is rapidly increasing and placing an expanding pressure on land use (Northrup & Wittemyer, 2013)
We studied reindeer fine-scale movement to determine calving sites, and we investigated reindeer habitat selection following Johnson’s (1980) second- and third-order scale of selection, and developed resource selection functions (RSFs)
We developed RSF models with a use-availability design, using binomial family generalized linear mixed models, evaluating whether the wind farm (WF) affected reindeer habitat selection at Johnson’s (1980) second- and third-order scales before and during construction and operation phases (Skarin et al, 2015)
Summary
The demand for renewable energy is rapidly increasing and placing an expanding pressure on land use (Northrup & Wittemyer, 2013). Rangifer habitats have been exposed to major changes due to forestry, mining, hydro power, and other exploitation (Gillingham et al, 2016; Johnson & Russell, 2014; Kivinen, 2015) This exploitation has been accompanied by the development of WFs. In the reindeer husbandry area in Sweden alone, there are currently 1,013 wind turbines in place, another 1,696 are approved and applications have been submitted for a further 1,838 (www.vindbrukskollen.se, retrieved 30 May 2018). In the reindeer husbandry area in Sweden alone, there are currently 1,013 wind turbines in place, another 1,696 are approved and applications have been submitted for a further 1,838 (www.vindbrukskollen.se, retrieved 30 May 2018) Both wild and domesticated Rangifer are known to respond to disturbances with regional-scale avoidance or decreased use of exploited areas (Skarin & Åhman, 2014; Vistnes & Nellemann, 2008). | 9908 in relation to the WF site, based on information about land cover type, topography, and existing infrastructure (roads and power lines) before and during construction, and during operation
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