New research involving BTO has developed a framework to identify how wildlife might be affected by renewable energy developments. Over the past century, an accelerating pace of industrialisation has led to increasing numbers of manmade structures, including renewable energy developments (such as wind turbines) that extend into and co-occupy the airspace of birds and other airborne wildlife. In order to understand how wildlife might be affected by these structures, we need data that describes species flight characteristics, such as how high and fast they fly. However, the methods used for this data collection are often based on legislation and guidance which has not been updated for some time, and therefore does not make best use of tools and technologies currently available. In the case of bird flight heights, measurements are often based on estimates from visual observers, whilst information on flight speeds are often derived from published literature. Such data are likely to be less accurate and less representative than data collected from technologies like radar or GPS telemetry, and in turn contribute to less accurate and less representative estimates of the potential impacts of renewable energy developments. A key reason that these visual- and literature-based data collection methods have persisted may be the lack of a comprehensive understanding regarding the tools and technologies that currently exist, and how these can be applied to the collection of bird flight data in a systematic and consistent way. In order to assess the tools and technologies available, BTO scientists collaborated with colleagues at the University of the Highlands and Islands and the RSPB to carry out a systematic literature search. For each method identified, the authors considered what kind of data could collect be collected (e.g. flight characteristics, longevity of data collection), how these data were collected (e.g. via GPS devices attached to birds) and if there was any evidence that the measurements from each tool had been or could be verified through calibration or validation. Based on the results of this search, the authors developed a framework, setting out how the tools available could be used during baseline ornithological data collection as part of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs), which help to establish whether a renewable energy development should go ahead. This work removed some of the uncertainty around the use of the tools that are currently used. This framework can be incorporated into EIA legislation and offers guidance about the collection of bird flight data, making the best use of the technology available to ensure that decisions about which renewable energy developments receive permission to be built are based on the most accurate and representative data possible.

Britain is home to several species of small mammals, which include rats, mice, voles, dormice and shrews. All of these are difficult to observe in the wild, and it is usually necessary to capture them to confirm their presence. By describing the vocal repertoire of small mammals in Britain, research published in British Wildlife by a team led by the BTO provides new possibilities for sound identification to be used as a non-invasive survey method. This has considerable potential to help conservation efforts by providing a cost-effective and robust method for detecting the presence of small mammals (e.g. Hazel Dormice in woodland, Brown Rats on seabird islands), which could be followed up with more intensive survey work if needed. It is likely that large volumes of data on small mammals are already being collected incidentally, but probably unknowingly, across Britain by bat workers using bat detectors. To maximise the value of bat surveys, the BTO Acoustic Pipeline improves the sound identification of bats, whilst also providing results for small mammals and other species groups. Download the appendix to the publication For the full article, see British Wildlife Volume 32, Number 3, December 2020 Download a zipped file containing original .wav audio clips (ZIP, 91MB) accompanying the publication

A newly published assessment of the evidence that climate change is causing biodiversity populations to decline as a result of divergent changes in the timing of consumer demands and the availability of species that they feed on, highlights significant evidence gaps. The earlier arrival of spring, measured by plants flowering, insects emerging, and the timing of egg laying and migrants arriving in birds, is one of the most obvious impacts of climate change on the natural world. These trends differ between different species’ groups, with plants tending to respond more quickly to warmer temperatures than insects, which have in turn have responded more quickly than birds. This has led many people to suggest that climate change is causing a mismatch (trophic asynchrony) between the timing of predators and prey, or herbivores and the plants that they eat, disrupting food networks and causing species to decline. In the most comprehensive review of the published literature on this topic to date, led by Edinburgh University but involving authors from seventeen other institutions including BTO, five criteria required to demonstrate that warming is having a negative impact on consumers through trophic asynchrony are identified: Consumers rely on a seasonal food resource The timing of peak consumer demand and peak food availability is diverging through time (asynchrony) Variation in asynchrony is linked to temperature Asynchrony negatively impacts the fitness of individual consumers Asynchrony negatively impacts consumer populations The majority of the 109 papers reviewed were from North America and Europe, showing a strong geographical bias in published studies; more data are required from aquatic systems and particularly the global south. Most studies described asynchrony in species reliant on a seasonal food resource, with almost two thirds providing evidence that, as expected, consumers were altering their phenology more slowly than their prey as a result of weaker temperature responses. Asynchrony is a widespread phenomenon. However, fewer than 8% of studies considered impacts on species’ populations and for only two species (both birds) were all five criteria documented; the Pied Flycatcher and Great Tit. This overview highlights the challenge researchers face in understanding how climate change affects complex ecological systems, and identifies some important priorities for future research, including a real need for long-term population monitoring data. Working with our thousands of volunteers, BTO initiatives like the Nest Record Scheme, Constant Effort Sites Scheme and Breeding Bird Survey enable us to do this. For example, we used these data to show that the sensitivity of breeding songbirds to changes in seasonal timing is linked to population change but cannot be directly attributed to declines in breeding productivity. More broadly, these schemes have been instrumental in tracking significant impacts of climate change on species distributions, populations and communities. To summarise, climate change is having widespread impacts on the natural world. This review shows that understanding the mechanisms behind these impacts is challenging and requires a combination of detailed ecological studies and long-term monitoring data to do so.