title: A modelling framework to predict bat activity patterns on wind farms: An outline of possible applications on mountain ridges of North Portugal.
abstract: Worldwide ecological impact assessments of wind farms have gathered relevant information on bat activity patterns. Since conventional bat study methods require intensive field work, the prediction of bat activity might prove useful by anticipating activity patterns and estimating attractiveness concomitant with the wind farm location. A novel framework was developed, based on the stochastic dynamic methodology (StDM) principles, to predict bat activity on mountain ridges with wind farms. We illustrate the framework application using regional data from North Portugal by merging information from several environmental monitoring programmes associated with diverse wind energy facilities that enable integrating the multifactorial influences of meteorological conditions, land cover and geographical variables on bat activity patterns. Output from this innovative methodology can anticipate episodes of exceptional bat activity, which, if correlated with collision probability, can be used to guide wind farm management strategy such as halting wind turbines during hazardous periods. If properly calibrated with regional gradients of environmental variables from mountain ridges with windfarms, the proposed methodology can be used as a complementary tool in environmental impact assessments and ecological monitoring, using predicted bat activity to assist decision making concerning the future location of wind farms and the implementation of effective mitigation measures.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Applied Ecology, CITAB - Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environment and Biological Sciences, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, 5000-911 Vila Real, Portugal.
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Applied Ecology, CITAB - Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environment and Biological Sciences, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, 5000-911 Vila Real, Portugal.
authors.forename: João Alexandre
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Cabral
authors.affiliation: Fluvial Ecology Laboratory CITAB, Centre for Research and Technology of Agro-Environment and Biological Sciences, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, 5000-911 Vila Real, Portugal.
authors.forename: Samantha Jane
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Hughes
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Applied Ecology, CITAB - Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environment and Biological Sciences, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, 5000-911 Vila Real, Portugal. Electronic address: mgsantos@utad.pt.
authors.forename: Mário
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Santos
keywords: Acoustic monitoring; Bat activity patterns; Ecological modelling; Environmental risk assessment; Stochastic Dynamic Methodology (StDM); Wind farms