Habitat modelling as a planning basis for species protection

Project objectives

With the amendment of the Federal Nature Conservation Act in 2022, the implementation of national species support programmes (nAHP) was enshrined in law, particularly for species affected by the expansion of renewable energies. The nAHP is intended to promote projects for the long-term protection of species and their habitats as well as the improvement of their conservation status. Against the backdrop of the widespread expansion of onshore wind energy, breeding birds at risk of collision, such as the white-tailed eagle, Montagu's harrier and red kite, are key target species for increased conservation efforts. In order to effectively bundle regional conservation projects, the technical identification of particularly suitable areas for the implementation of measures is an important prerequisite. The aim of the project is therefore to develop comprehensive habitat models in order to map both small-scale habitat requirements and supra-regional distribution patterns of the relevant large bird species throughout Germany.

METHODS

Extensive site data on breeding occurrences from the online portal https://www.ornitho.de/, which is operated by the DDA and its member organisations, as well as the data sets of the federal states are used for the model calculation. The local habitat characteristics are described using high-resolution environmental data, thus taking into account the influences of land cover and agricultural use, as well as climatic influences and weather conditions on species occurrence. The model results describe the most important distribution areas and potentially suitable development areas for the bird species considered in the project in Germany and are available for further analyses. A comparison with planning scenarios and the current state of development of wind turbines makes it possible to better assess potential impacts on the occurrence and habitat of the species concerned. To ensure that the results can be widely utilised, the methodological approach and the model calculation will be published in a specialist publication and the comprehensive model predictions will be made available online as a data basis.

Further Information

• Dachverband Deutscher Avifaunisten
• BfN: Project profile
• BfN: National species support programme

First Results

Frank, C., Holler, S., Behrend, D., Stahmer, J., & Katzenberger, J. (2024). Habitat models harnessing the power of heterogeneous occurrence data to inform species conservation in the context of rapid renewable energy expansion (1.0). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13237339

The article published as a preprint describes the exact methodological approach as well as the results, puts them into context and provides information on the use of the results. This is the first version of the publication. As the models are still being further developed, there may be deviations from the current version in a future version.