Sex-biased mortality of common terns in wind farm collisions
We studied sex differences in collision mortality in adult Common Terns ( Sterna hirundo ) at a wind farm in the direct vicinity of a breeding site in Zeebrugge, Belgium in 2005-2007. In total, 64 fatalities were collected and sexed, of which 64% were males. Uneven sex ratio among these birds was most pronounced during the period of incubation and early chick feeding (15 May-15 June), when 78% of the 28mortalities were male. During prelaying and feeding of young, the sex ratio of mortalities did not differ from equality. We argue that sex-biased collision mortality in Common Terns does not res... Mehr ...
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Dokumenttyp: | Artikel |
Erscheinungsdatum: | 2008 |
Schlagwörter: | Mortality / Sex differences / Turbines / Wind power / Sterna hirundo Linnaeus / 1758 [Common tern] / Belgium / Europe |
Sprache: | Englisch |
Permalink: | https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-26966525 |
Datenquelle: | BASE; Originalkatalog |
Powered By: | BASE |
Link(s) : | https://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/136744.pdf |
We studied sex differences in collision mortality in adult Common Terns ( Sterna hirundo ) at a wind farm in the direct vicinity of a breeding site in Zeebrugge, Belgium in 2005-2007. In total, 64 fatalities were collected and sexed, of which 64% were males. Uneven sex ratio among these birds was most pronounced during the period of incubation and early chick feeding (15 May-15 June), when 78% of the 28mortalities were male. During prelaying and feeding of young, the sex ratio of mortalities did not differ from equality. We argue that sex-biased collision mortality in Common Terns does not result from morphological differences between the sexes, but rather reflects differences in foraging frequency between males and females during egg-laying and incubation.