Naslov
Bear Denning Requirements as Opposed to the Wind Energy Development Plans.

Autori
Huber, Djuro ; Kusak, Josip ; Reljic, Slaven

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, ostalo

Izvornik
Book of Abstracts of the 22nd International Conference on Bear Research & Management (IBA). / - Provo (UT) : Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah., 2013, 12-12

Skup
22nd International Conference on Bear Research & Management.

Mjesto i datum
Provo (UT), Sjedinjene Američke Države, 15.09.2013. - 20.09.2013

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
Brown bear, denning, hibernation.

Sažetak
Selection of den sites is certainly one of the most critical choices in the life of bear, especially for the birth-giving females. The bear use of inadequate den or the disturbance during denning will lead to the loss of litter. If frequent and widespread, it may put the whole population to risk. The demand for energy from renewable sources is strongly promoting the use of wind power. The wind turbines in Croatia are often planned to be placed on elevated locations like mountain ridges to catch more wind and to be away from human settlements to avoid disturbing people. It seems that this approach is often putting them in the midst of the most remote and pristine bear habitat. Currently, Croatia is in various stages of building or planning at least 94 wind parks, each with 10 and up to more than 100 turbines, many of them up to 143 m high. Additionally each turbine needs extensive newly constructed access roads, which are up to 20 m wide on curves. Bear den habitat at the locations of 26 brown bear dens in Croatia was analyzed in relation to vegetation cover, terrain elevation, slope, ruggedness, proximity to and density of roads and settlements. Mahalanobis distance modeling was applied to model potential bear denning areas which should be excluded from wind power development. Of the studied area of 8510.5 km2, only 26.8% was ranked to be highly suitable as bear denning areas. Environmental impact studies lack guidelines to evaluate the effects of wind power structures on bears in general, as well as specifically on their denning. Guidelines exist for impacts on birds and bats, but not for ground dwelling animals including bears and other large carnivores. Here we propose and describe the use of current knowledge on bear den selection and GIS analyses to define the quantitative and spatial criteria to evaluate proposals for construction of wind parks.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Biologija, Veterinarska medicina

POVEZANOST RADA