Bats are at risk from wind turbines, researchers have found, because the rotating blades produce a change in air pressure that can kill the mammals. Canadian scientists examined bats found dead at a wind farm, and concluded that most had internal injuries consistent with sudden loss of air pressure. Bats use echo-location to avoid hitting the blades but cannot detect the sharp pressure changes around the turbine. The scientists say wind farms are more of an issue for bats than for birds. "An atmospheric pressure drop at wind turbine blades is an undetectable - and potentially unforseeable - hazard for bats, thus partially explaining the large number of bat fatalities at these specific structures," said Erin Baerwald, who led the research team at the University of Calgary. (...) The Calgary team collected carcasses of hoary and silver-haired bats killed at a wind farm in south-western Alberta. Examinations showed that fewer than half had external injuries that could have been caused by collision. But about 90% had internal haemorrhaging, most notably in the chest cavity, a condition that puts pressure on the lung and can be fatal. The idea is that the pressure around a rotating turbine blade is lower than in the surrounding air. A bat flying into the low-pressure zone finds its lungs suddenly expanding, bursting capillaries in the surrounding tissue which then becomes flooded with blood. Birds, which have more rigid and robust lungs, do not undergo the same trauma from a sudden drop in pressure. "Given that bats are far more susceptible to barotrauma than birds, and that bat fatalities at wind turbines far outnumber bird fatalities at most sites, wildlife fatalities at wind turbines are now a bat issue, not a bird issue," said Ms Baerwald.
Canadian scientists examined bats found dead at a wind farm, and concluded that most had internal injuries consistent with sudden loss of air pressure.
Bats use echo-location to avoid hitting the blades but cannot detect the sharp pressure changes around the turbine.
The scientists say wind farms are more of an issue for bats than for birds.
"An atmospheric pressure drop at wind turbine blades is an undetectable - and potentially unforseeable - hazard for bats, thus partially explaining the large number of bat fatalities at these specific structures," said Erin Baerwald, who led the research team at the University of Calgary.
(...)
The Calgary team collected carcasses of hoary and silver-haired bats killed at a wind farm in south-western Alberta.
Examinations showed that fewer than half had external injuries that could have been caused by collision.
But about 90% had internal haemorrhaging, most notably in the chest cavity, a condition that puts pressure on the lung and can be fatal.
The idea is that the pressure around a rotating turbine blade is lower than in the surrounding air. A bat flying into the low-pressure zone finds its lungs suddenly expanding, bursting capillaries in the surrounding tissue which then becomes flooded with blood.
Birds, which have more rigid and robust lungs, do not undergo the same trauma from a sudden drop in pressure.
"Given that bats are far more susceptible to barotrauma than birds, and that bat fatalities at wind turbines far outnumber bird fatalities at most sites, wildlife fatalities at wind turbines are now a bat issue, not a bird issue," said Ms Baerwald.
Bats! Look, bats are not birds, ok. And they are NOT rodents. Bats are mammals. Flying mammals. They're practically primates. They play a vital ecological role, like bees. They're sometimes even vampires. Of all the animals, they are the coolest. We cannot tolerate bat-i-cide!
Jerome, you are hereby charged with the task of inventing bat-safe windmills!
This is unacceptable.
Save The Bats! "Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
This juxtaposition makes sense only if rodents are not mammals... A vivid image of what should exist acts as a surrogate for reality. Pursuit of the image then prevents pursuit of the reality -- John K. Galbraith
Interestingly, the Placental Mammals subdivide into 4 superorders, one of which contains Bats and another one Primates, and Rodents happen to belong to the same one as Primates.
So you could say bats are NOT rodents: rodents are practically mammals but bats aren't. A vivid image of what should exist acts as a surrogate for reality. Pursuit of the image then prevents pursuit of the reality -- John K. Galbraith
No, I couldn't say that. What the hell is your problem? "Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
Ugh.
I shouldn't PN when I'm tired, is my problem. A vivid image of what should exist acts as a surrogate for reality. Pursuit of the image then prevents pursuit of the reality -- John K. Galbraith
You may object to Migeru's comments, but they are quite anodyne and don't call for downratings.
And I don't need your [ET Moderation TechnologyTM] . You've already gotten me kicked off the FP. Not enough of a power trip for you, afew? "Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
But let your comment stand, I don't object to people seeing it.
Worth a public apology to afew when you've cooled off. Which is what I sincerely hope you're doing. Get some fresh air, take stock of what's good, then come back.
Don't even hold your breath waiting for that apology to afew, who has almost single-handedly led the fight to keep me off the fp! "Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
It also keeps other people from wanting to engage with you on here, because despite your often excellent diaries and writing, the way you react to comments can be so unpredictable and aggressive at times that people don't know if they are going to end up in the firing line. Ad astra per aspera
But you know that. "Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
You should know better.
Again, I haven't seen a single suggestion to bring poemless into the FP team over the past year, so I don't know that that's true. A vivid image of what should exist acts as a surrogate for reality. Pursuit of the image then prevents pursuit of the reality -- John K. Galbraith
As far as I'm concerned it's ancient history, assuming it is not ancient myth. A vivid image of what should exist acts as a surrogate for reality. Pursuit of the image then prevents pursuit of the reality -- John K. Galbraith
I honestly don't understand what's gotten into you.
And I don't need your [ET Moderation TechnologyTM] . You've already gotten me kicked off the FP. Not enough of a power trip for you, afew?
Groundless accusation & personal attack.
I always see red when this happens. Deserves a zero in my book.
Here: http://xkcd.com/438/
Still, in order to decide whether the attack was groundless we'd have to ask poemless and afew to air whatever dirty laundry poemless claims they have but afew denies and I'm not interested in that, are you?
Which probably means that, since the laundry can't be aired, it was unwise for poemless to make the accusation in public in the first place. A vivid image of what should exist acts as a surrogate for reality. Pursuit of the image then prevents pursuit of the reality -- John K. Galbraith
And I did reply on the substance of the story, too.
Plus we learned that bats are closer relatives of cats than of mice (or people).
I don't know what you're complaining about. A vivid image of what should exist acts as a surrogate for reality. Pursuit of the image then prevents pursuit of the reality -- John K. Galbraith
Now, the deadly pressure drop thing is supercool in my opinion (I'm a physicist by training after all) so I am not claiming you shouldn't have posted the news item. A vivid image of what should exist acts as a surrogate for reality. Pursuit of the image then prevents pursuit of the reality -- John K. Galbraith
I must admit that I never read the article cos I just thought it was the usual nit-picking stuff you see too much of in the UK press. So far we've had migrating birds, birds of prey, low flying fighter planes, RAF over the horizon radar, subsonic vibrations. I admit I've been waiting for a correlation with bee colony collapse syndrome.
So sometimes the first reaction is to dismiss. But if there's an issue, I trust it's something we'll have the care to resolve quickly. keep to the Fen Causeway
since it is a no-no to say anything bad about windfarms here.
Do you actually believe that? Do you? In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Why are you looking at me like that?
