The expanding use of wind farms as a source of renewable energy can impact bird populations due to collisions and other factors. Globally, seabirds are one of the avian taxonomic groups most threatened by anthropogenic disturbance; adequately assessing the potential impact of offshore wind farms (OWFs) is important for developing strategies to avoid or minimize harm to their populations. We estimated avoidance rates of OWFs—the degree to which birds show reduced utilization of OWF areas—by Sandwich Terns (Thalasseus sandvicensis) at 2 breeding colonies in western Europe: Scolt Head (United Kingdom) and De Putten (the Netherlands). The foraging ranges of birds from each colony overlapped with multiple OWFs. We modeled GPS tracking data using integrated step selection functions (iSSFs) to estimate the relative selection of habitats at the scale of time between successive GPS relocations — in our case, 10 min, in which Sandwich Terns traveled ~2 km on average. Besides the effects of OWFs and the direct surroundings of OWFs, iSSFs considered distance from the colony and habitat characteristics (water depth and sediment grain size) as well as movement characteristics. Macro-avoidance rates, where 1 means complete avoidance, were estimated at 0.54 (95% CI: 0.35, 0.7) for birds originating from Scolt Head and 0.41 (95% CI: 0.21, 0.56) for those from De Putten. Estimates for individual OWFs also indicated avoidance but were associated with considerable uncertainty. Our results were inconclusive with regard to the behavioral response to the areas directly surrounding OWFs (within 1.5 km); estimates suggested indifference and avoidance, and were associated with large uncertainty. Avoidance rate of OWFs significantly increased with turbine density, suggesting OWF design may help to reduce the impact of OWFs on Sandwich Terns. The partial avoidance of OWFs by Sandwich Terns implies that the species will experience risks of collision and habitat loss due to OWFs constructed within their foraging ranges.

中文翻译：

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北海三明治燕鸥对海上风电场的回避随着涡轮机密度的增加而增加

风力发电场作为可再生能源的广泛使用可能会因碰撞和其他因素而影响鸟类数量。在全球范围内，海鸟是受人为干扰威胁最严重的鸟类分类群之一。充分评估海上风电场（OWF）的潜在影响对于制定避免或尽量减少对其人口造成伤害的战略非常重要。我们估计了三明治燕鸥 (Thalasseus sandvicensis) 在西欧 2 个繁殖地：Scolt Head（英国）和 De Putten（荷兰）的 OWF 回避率（即鸟类对 OWF 区域利用率降低的程度）。每个群体的鸟类觅食范围与多个 OWF 重叠。我们使用集成步长选择函数（iSSF）对 GPS 跟踪数据进行建模，以估计连续 GPS 重新定位之间的时间尺度上栖息地的相对选择——在我们的例子中，为 10 分钟，三明治燕鸥平均移动约 2 公里。除了 OWF 和 OWF 直接周围环境的影响外，iSSF 还考虑了距群体的距离和栖息地特征（水深和沉积物粒度）以及运动特征。宏观回避率（其中 1 表示完全回避）估计来自斯科特角的鸟类为 0.54（95% CI：0.35，0.7），来自德普滕的鸟类为 0.41（95% CI：0.21，0.56）。对个别 OWF 的估计也表明了回避，但与相当大的不确定性相关。对于 OWF 直接周围区域（1.5 公里内）的行为反应，我们的结果尚无定论；估计表明冷漠和回避，并且与很大的不确定性相关。OWF 的回避率随着涡轮机密度的增加而显着增加，这表明 OWF 设计可能有助于减少 OWF 对三明治燕鸥的影响。夹心燕鸥部分回避 OWF 意味着，由于在其觅食范围内建造 OWF，该物种将面临碰撞和栖息地丧失的风险。