[Image above] Michelle Weschler, an assistant research scientist at the University of Wyoming’s Natural Wyoming Diversity Database, examines flowering plants within a wind energy facility in southeast Wyoming. Credit: Lusha Tronstad, University of Wyoming
The wind industry reached a historic milestone in 2023 with 1 terawatt of installed capacity globally. Reaching this milestone took around four decades, according to the Global Wind Energy Council, but growing investments in renewable energy means this capacity will likely double in less than 10 years.
There are many anticipated benefits of this expansion, including significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. But there are also drawbacks that must be considered, such as the effects of wind facilities on local wildlife populations.
Bat and bird fatalities caused by turbine collisions are the most studied effect of wind installations. Yet almost nothing is known about the effect these facilities have on insects.
Insects play an essential role in the environment, driving the production of essential seeds, fruits, and vegetables via pollination as well as decomposing organic matter. They also provide biological control of pests and act as bio-indicators of healthy streams and soils, among other invaluable ecosystem services.
In recent decades, an increasing number of studies have reported global declines in insect abundance and diversity. Reasons for this decline have been attributed in part to widespread pesticide use, disease, changes in climate, and habitat loss. However, “the extent to which renewable energy sources, such as wind turbines, are influencing these dynamics is unknown,” researchers write in a recent open-access paper.
The authors are assistant research scientist Michelle Weschler and invertebrate zoologist Lusha Tronstad of the University of Wyoming’s Natural Wyoming Diversity Database. In a press release, Weschler explains that their paper focuses on the hypothesis that insects may be attracted to turbines, “which could be increasing the number that are killed by turbines and also serve to attract vertebrate wildlife to turbines, making them vulnerable to fatally striking the blades as well.”
To investigate this hypothesis, Weschler and Tronstad combined data from past studies with new data from experiments they conducted. Analysis of the data revealed that turbine color appeared to be an important factor, with more insects flocking to turbines painted bright white than other colors.
They acknowledge that it is currently impossible to identify the effects of wind installations on specific species. However, they created a table that summarizes the vulnerability of different insect orders to stimuli such as light, heat, wind, and sound. Based on this assessment, the table suggests that moths, butterflies, beetles, flies, and true bugs may be the most vulnerable to striking turbines.
Weschler says she hopes the study’s results will be useful for researchers who are interested in insect conservation, as well as land managers and wind energy operators.
“Insects are increasingly being listed under the Endangered Species Act in the United States, and there is global concern from entomologists regarding large-scale insect decline over the past decades,” she says in the press release. “Wind energy and renewable energy projects, in general, are rapidly growing, so I think the link between these is worth considering on a conservation level. Hopefully, this will inspire further studies and investigation so that we can fully understand the scope of the issue.”
The open-access paper, published in PeerJ, is “Wind energy and insects: reviewing the state of knowledge and identifying potential interactions” (DOI: 10.7717/peerj.18153).
