Bat Blenders: Balancing Wind Energy and Bat Conservation

Michael Whitby Author

03/03/2016 Added

172 Plays

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Third Place in the Doctorate category of the 2016 School of Natural Resources Elevator Speech Contest. Michael is a doctoral candidate seeking a degree in Natural Resource Sciences with a specialization in Applied Ecology.

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[00:00:00.897]You may not realize it
[00:00:02.232]but bats are everywhere in Nebraska.
[00:00:04.635]They're nestled in the leaves above you
[00:00:06.156]as you walk down the sidewalk
[00:00:07.816]and they're under the dead bark of the tree
[00:00:09.650]at your favorite fishing hole.
[00:00:11.554]In fact, Nebraska has 13 species of bats.
[00:00:15.012]They vary in size, shape, and color.
[00:00:17.892]Some hibernate in mines and caves during winter
[00:00:21.617]while others migrate to unknown locations.
[00:00:27.016]When the return in Spring,
[00:00:28.688]these bats eat
[00:00:30.058]up to their body weight in insects every night.
[00:00:32.915]That's the equivalent of you or me eating
[00:00:35.109]about half a cow's worth of steaks everyday.
[00:00:38.812]Their voracious appetites contribute
[00:00:41.308]about three billion dollars to U.S. agricultural industry
[00:00:45.870]in the form of pest-control
[00:00:47.727]and about one billion dollars to worldwide corn production.
[00:00:52.068]Unfortunately, we may be noticing
[00:00:54.171]more buzzing in our backyards
[00:00:56.306]and seeing more damage to our crops in the coming years.
[00:01:00.148]Experts fear that bat populations
[00:01:02.250]will be unable to recover from the devastating effects
[00:01:05.255]of a disease called White Nose Syndrome
[00:01:07.322]and the cumulative impacts of wind energy development.
[00:01:11.559]While renewable energy and wind energy
[00:01:14.241]are important parts of our future,
[00:01:16.272]there is no question that wind turbines kill bats.
[00:01:20.174]In the Great Plains it is estimated that each turbine
[00:01:23.575]kills four to eight bats every year.
[00:01:26.420]The cumulative impact across the United States
[00:01:29.217]is estimated to be almost one million bats every year.
[00:01:33.535]A number that is rapidly rising
[00:01:35.555]as more and more turbines are placed on the landscape.
[00:01:40.454]It is important to balance our energy needs
[00:01:42.950]with those of conservation.
[00:01:47.199]My research asks a simple question
[00:01:49.777]of when and where bats are migrating.
[00:01:52.679]Since these species are the most
[00:01:53.991]impacted by wind energy development,
[00:01:56.973]answering these questions may help us
[00:01:59.853]reduce the impacts to bats.
[00:02:04.416]To answer these questions I've placed
[00:02:06.355]bat-detectors that listen for the
[00:02:07.852]echo-location calls of bats
[00:02:10.034]across the east central Nebraska landscape.
[00:02:12.995]By examining the activity levels
[00:02:15.351]in relation to landscape features and weather patterns
[00:02:19.090]I hope to discern areas and times
[00:02:21.457]when bats are most likely to be killed by wind turbines.
[00:02:25.475]My hope is that this information could be used
[00:02:28.550]to reduce the threats wind turbines pose to bats.
[00:02:32.207]For example, if bats migrate along rivers and bluff lines
[00:02:36.154]we can avoid placing wind turbines in those areas
[00:02:38.847]or shut down turbines when bats are
[00:02:41.088]most likely to be killed.
[00:02:43.387]Answering these simple questions
[00:02:45.035]about the basic biology of bats
[00:02:47.090]may be the key to saving them.
[00:02:49.249]Thank you.
[00:02:50.329](applause)

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Bat Blenders: Balancing Wind Energy and Bat Conservation

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