Energy extraction

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Energy extraction and accidents like an oil spill can compromise stopover habitat, migratory corridors, and breeding and wintering areas that are critical to animal survival and breeding success. Connectivity information is essential to understand and minimize impacts to threatened populations.

Dams & hydroelectric power

Dams are a source of energy, water, and flood control. But they are also impassable barriers to migratory fish, and their turbines can kill small fry as they swim downstream. Massive dams such as the Three Gorges Dam have already wreaked havoc on fish migrations.

Restoration, however, is possible. The largest dam removal project in the history of the United States will remove two dams on the Elwha River in Washington. Researchers are currently working to understand whether restoring salmon runs will introduce marine-derived nutrients and affect the ecosystem above the old dams.

Gas & oil drilling

As gas and oil reserves are depleted and demand heightens, exploratory and active drilling will continue to increase. To understand the affects of drilling on migratory species, regulators need knowledge of which populations are affected and their migratory connectivity. Carry-over effects can have repercussions beyond the area of energy extraction.

  • Seabirds that congregate around offshore oil drilling platforms can be killed by collisions, oiling, and incineration by the flare
  • Fish and birds that feed that forage near oil rigs ingest toxic heavy metals that bio-accumulate and reduce the ability to survive and reproduce

Drilling on land can also have lasting effects on both migratory and sedentary populations. Exploratory drilling causes habitat fragmentation and can affect migration and other animal behaviors.

  • In Appalachia, coal mining is contributing to the rapid decline of the cerulean warbler
  • Natural gas drilling alters breeding behavior and productivity of sage grouse
  • Mule deer avoid drilling pads and roads, even when alternative habitat is of poor quality

Wind turbines & wind power

For wind farms to be successful, turbines must be placed where there are frequent and strong winds. Unfortunately, these sites are also favored by migratory birds and bats, and fatal collisions are common (¼ – ½ million birds are killed each year).

Although wind turbine mortality is believed to be significant, estimating impacts is not trivial. Consideration of migratory timing, location of migratory routes, elevation of migratory flight, and blade height would go a long way towards preventing fatalities.

Energy transportation

Oil is moved via pipeline or tanker, and spills can have devastating repercussions that persist for decades. Connectivity data are important for knowing long-term consequences of oil spills on migratory populations, and they are vital to understanding both direct and indirect effects.

In addition to the toxicity of ingesting oil, a small spot of oil on a bird, seal, or sea lion can compromise an animal’s ability to keep warm. Poisoning and hypothermia are real risks of oil transportation.

  • RENA, Astrolabe Reef, New Zealand (October, 2011): 93,000 gallons
  • DEEPWATER HORIZON, Gulf of Mexico, USA (April, 2010): largest spill in the history of the petroleum industry, official estimates place it at >206 million gallons
  • Alaska Pipeline, Prudhoe Bay, USA (March, 2006): a terrestrial spill in Alaska’s pristine North Slope spilled >200,000 gallons
  • PRESTIGE, Galicia, Spain (November, 2002): >20 million gallons
  • JESSICA, Galapagos, Ecuador (January, 2001): 150,000 gallons
  • EXXON VALDEZ, Prince William Sound, USA (March, 1989): 11 million gallons, 20 years later wildlife are still coming into contact with oil

Above-ground power lines are also hazardous to migratory birds. They fragment habitat, contain herbicide-treated grass, and are a collision and electrocution hazard to birds.

  • Ten million birds per year are killed by power line collision or electrocution
  • Wyoming (2007-2009): 232 eagles were illegally electrocuted by improperly grounded power lines
  • California (2011): bird collision starts brush fire that burned 23 acres

References

  1. Anderson, S.H., K. Mann, and H.H. Shugart, Jr. 1977. The effect of transmission-line corridors on bird populations. American Midland Naturalist 97: (1) 216-221.
  2. Arnekleiv, J.V., M. Kraabøl, and J. Museth. 2007. Efforts to aid downstream migrating brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) kelts and smolts passing a hydroelectric dam and a spillway. Hydrobiologia 582: (1) 5-15.
  3. Arnett, E.D., W.K. Brown, W.P. Erickson, J.K. Fiedler, B.L. Hamilton, T.H. Henry, A. Jain, G.D. Johnson, J. Kerns, R.R. Koford, C.P. Nicholson, T.J. O’Connell, M.D. Piorkowski, and R.D. Tankersley. 2008. Patterns of bat fatalities at wind energy facilities in North America. The Journal of Wildlife Management 72: (1) 61-78.
  4. Baird, P.H. 1990. Concentrations of seabirds at oil-drilling rigs. The Condor 92: (3) 768-771.
  5. Barclay, R.M.R., E.F Baerwald, and J.C. Gruver. 2007. Variation in bat and bird fatalities at wind energy facilities: assessing the effects of rotor size and tower height. Canadian Journal of Zoology 85: (3) 381-387.
  6. Barrios, L. and A. Rodríguez. 2004. Behavioural and environmental correlates of soaring-bird mortality at on-shore wind turbines. Journal of Applied Ecology 41: (1) 72-81.
  7. Bevanger, K. 1994. Bird interactions with utility structures: collision and electrocution, causes and mitigating measures. Ibis 136: (4) 412-425.
  8. Bevanger, K. 1998. Biological and conservation aspects of bird mortality caused by electricity power lines: a review. Biological Conservation 86: (1) 67-76.
  9. Currie, D.R. and L.R. Isaacs. 2005. Impact of exploratory offshore drilling on benthic communities in the minerva gas field, Port Campbell, Australia. Marine Environmental Research 59: (3) 217-233.
  10. de Luca, M., G.F.E. Janss, and M. Ferrer. 2003. The effects of a wind farm on birds in a migration point: the Strait of Gibraltar. Biodiversity and Conservation 13: (2) 385-407.
  11. Esler, D., J.A. Schmutz, R.L. Jarvis, and D.M. Mulcahy. 2000. Winter survival of adult female harlequin ducks in relation to history of contamination by the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The Journal of Wildlife Management 64: (3) 839-847.
  12. Gehrke, P.C., D.M. Gilligan, and M. Barwick. 2002. Changes in fish communities of the Shoalhaven River 20 years after construction of Tallowa Dam, Australia. River Research and Applications 18: (3) 265-286.
  13. Gowans, a.R.D., J.D. Armstrong, and I.G. Priede. 1999. Movements of adult Atlantic salmon in relation to a hydroelectric dam and fish ladder. Journal of Fish Biology 54: (4) 713-726.
  14. Gutleb, A.C., A. Helsberg, and C. Mitchell. 2001. Heavy metal concentrations from a pristine rainforest valley in Peru: a baseline study before the start of oil-drilling activities. Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 69: (4) 523-529.
  15. Kenney, R.D. and H.E. Winn. 1986. Cetacean high-use habitats of the northeast United States continental shelf. Fishery Bulletin 84: (2) 345-357.
  16. Kunz, T.H., E.B. Arnett, W.P. Erickson, A.R. Hoar, G.D. Johnson, R.P. Larkin, M.D. Strickland, R.W. Thresher, and M.D. Tuttle. 2007. Ecological impacts of wind energy development on bats: questions, research needs, and hypotheses. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environments 5:315-324.
  17. Neff, J.M., M. H. Bothner, N.J. Maciolek, and J.F. Grassle. 1989. Impacts of exploratory drilling for oil and gas on the benthic environment of Georges Bank. Marine Environmental Research 27: (2) 77-114.
  18. Peterson, C.H., S.D. Rice, J.W. Short, D. Esler, J.L. Bodkin, B.E. Ballachey, and D.B. Irons. 2003. Long-term ecosystem response to the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Science 302: (5653) 2082-2086.
  19. Sawyer, H., R.M. Nielson, F. Lindzey, and L.L. McDonald. 2006. Winter habitat selection of mule deer before and during development of a natural gas field. Journal of Wildlife Management 70: (2) 396-403.
  20. Wiese, F.K., W.A. Montevecchi, G.K. Davoren, F. Huettmann, A.W. Diamond, and J. Linke. 2001. Seabirds at risk around offshore oil platforms in the north-west Atlantic. Marine Pollution Bulletin 42: (12) 1285-1290.

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