The aim of the project is to study the potential effects of offshore wind turbines on migratory birds and passage migrants.
In view of the major expansion of offshore wind farms in the German exclusive economic zone (EEZ), this project aims to explain unresolved questions about the impacts of offshore wind farms on bird populations.
A strong emphasis is placed on the quality of the data collected. Thanks to a range of technical advances, new measurement technology is now available, such as digital recording methods, miniature transmitters and automated receiving stations. On the other hand, existing processes have been significantly improved, for example the range and resolution of e.g. radar imaging processes. The project plans to use these innovations in combination for the first time in order to answer the various research questions.
The project will make detailed evaluations of the existing and all newly recorded data and analyse these using complex statistical models. Along with updating the available international literature, this will enable the (further) development of nature conservation evaluation criteria on the effects of offshore wind farms on the bird populations affected.
Further information
- Project website of the Ornithological Station Helgoland
- Project flyer for download
- Research Platform Fino 1 in the German Bight
- Research Platform Fino 2 (close to Sylt)
- Continuous project coordination
- Evaluating existing methods for recording bird migration across the sea
- Phenology of nocturnal bird migration in the North and Baltic Sea region
- Development of a network of stations for migrating terrestrial birds and evaluation of the data
- Telemetry of sea and coastal birds
- Measures for reducing collisions
- Conceptual design of evaluation, population importance and protection
- Population genetics of the common scoter
- Holding expert events
Project management
Kiel University
Research and Technology Centre, West Coast (FTZ)
Hafentörn 1, 25761 Büsum
Prof. Dr. Stefan Garthe
Tel.: +49 4834 604-116
garthe@ftz-west.uni-kiel.de
Project partners
Institute of Avian Research "Ornithological Station Helgoland"
An der Vogelwarte 21, 26386 Wilhelmshaven
Dr. Ommo Hüppop
Tel.: +49 4421 9689-46
ommo.hueppop@ifv-vogelwarte.de
Avitec Research GbR
Sachsenring 11, 27711 Osterholz-Scharmbeck
Reinhold Hill
Tel.: +49 4795 9571530
reinhold.hill@avitec-research.de
Funding authority
Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN)
Vilm Office
FG II 5.2 Marine and coastal nature conservation
18581 Putbus/Rügen
Dr. Matthias Steitz
Tel.: +49 38301 86-208
matthias.steitz@BfN.de
Assessing potential conflicts between offshore wind farms and migration patterns of a threatened shorebird species, P. Schwemmer, R. Pederson, K. Haecker, P. Bocher, J. Fort, M. Mercker, F. Jiguet, J. Elts, R. Marja, M. Piha, P. Rousseau, S. Garthe, Animal Conservation (2022), https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.12817
Michalik B, Brust V, Hüppop O (2020) Are movements of daytime and nighttime passerine migrants as different as day and night? Ecology and Evolution 00: 1-12, (https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6704)
Brust V, Michalik B, Hüppop O (2019) To cross or not to cross – thrushes at the German North Sea coast adapt flight and routing to wind conditions in autumn, Movement Ecology 7:32 (https://doi.org/10.1186/s40462-019-0173-5)
Brust V, Hüppop O (2018) Individuelle Zugentscheidungen von Singvögeln an der deutschen Nordseeküste Jber Inst Vogelforsch 13, 11
Brust V, Michalik B & Hüppop O (2018) Individuelle Flugwege kleiner Singvögel zur Zugzeit an der Deutschen Bucht. Vogelwarte 56, 367
Schmaljohann H, Brust V, Hüppop O (2018) Automatische Verfolgung kleiner Vögel - der technische Fortschritt hält Einzug in die Vogelzugforschung über der Nordsee, Nachr Marschenrat 55, 57-62
Davidson SC, Bohrer G, … Garthe S, … (147 authors) (2020): Ecological insights from three decades of animal movement tracking across a changing Arctic. Science 370: 712–715
Borrmann RM, Phillips RA, Clay T, Garthe S (2019): High foraging site fidelity and spatial segregation among individual great black-backed gulls. Journal of Avian Biology: e02156.
Schwemmer P, Enners L, Garthe S (2016): Migration routes of Eurasian Curlews (Numenius arquata) resting in the eastern Wadden Sea based on GPS telemetry. Journal of Ornithology 157: 901-905.
Topics
Offshore wind energyKeywords
Birds Air Wind Power Offshore Wind Power Federal Nature Conservation Act Landscape Planning International National Regional Local Field Studies Case Studies Policy Recommendations Method Development Conventions Standards Expansion of Impact Knowledge Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation CompletedRelated News
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