‘Predator’ wind farm effect hits ecosystems, scientists say

Wind farms act as a top “predator” in some ecosystems, harming birds at the top of the food chain and triggering a knockon effect overlooked by green energy advocates, scientists said Monday.

Wind is the fastest-growing renewable energy sector, supplying around four percent of global electricity demand.

Close to 170,000 Square kilometers – an area roughly the size of Tunisia – is currently used for generating wind energy worldwide, and researchers warned that developers had “greatly underestimated” the impact the technology has on wildlife.

In new research, an international team of scientists studied the effects of wind turbine use in the Western Ghats, a UNESCO-listed range of mountains and forest spanning India’s west coast region and a global “hotspot” of biodiversity.

They found that predatory raptor birds were four times rarer in areas of plateau where wind turbines were present, a disruption that cascaded down the food chain and radically altered the density and behavior of the birds’ prey.

In particular, the team observed an explosion in the raptors’ favorite meal, fan-throated lizards, in areas dominated by the turbines.

Furthermore, they saw significant changes in lizard behavior and appearance, living as they were in an essentially predator-free environment.