Utilizing high-resolution genetic markers to track population-level exposure of migratory birds to renewable energy development
[1];
- University of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
- University of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States); Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO (United States)
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Palm Springs, CA (United States)
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Carlsbad, CA (United States)
- U.S. Geological Survey, Boise, ID (United States)
With new motivation to increase the proportion of energy demands met by zero-carbon sources, there is a greater focus on efforts to assess and mitigate the impacts of renewable energy development on sensitive ecosystems and wildlife, of which birds are of particular interest. One challenge for researchers, due in part to a lack of appropriate tools, has been estimating the effects from such development on individual breeding populations of migratory birds. To help address this, we utilize a newly developed, high-resolution genetic tagging method to rapidly identify the breeding population of origin of carcasses recovered from renewable energy facilities and combine them with maps of genetic variation across geographic space (called ‘genoscapes’) for five species of migratory birds known to be exposed to energy development, to assess the extent of population-level effects on migratory birds. We demonstrate that most avian remains collected were from the largest populations of a given species. In contrast, those remains from smaller, declining populations made up a smaller percentage of the total number of birds assayed. Results suggest that application of this genetic tagging method can successfully define population-level exposure to renewable energy development and may be a powerful tool to inform future siting and mitigation activities associated with renewable energy programs.
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office; USDOE
- Contributing Organization:
- USFWS; BLM
- Grant/Contract Number:
- EE0009005
- OSTI ID:
- 2263516
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 2298955
- Journal Information:
- PLOS Sustainability and Transformation, Vol. 2, Issue 12; ISSN 2767-3197
- Publisher:
- PLOSCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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