BRI scientists bring decades of experience in wildlife research, ecological modeling, and monitoring technologies to the Project WOW team. Our work contributes to several areas of the project—data synthesis, ecosystem modeling, and research & development—with an overall focus on birds and bats.

A key approach to understand the impacts of offshore wind development on wildlife is to compare wildlife distributions and abundance from before and after development activities. Using observational survey data from a variety of sources—boat-based and aerial methods—we are developing tools to aid in species modeling efforts, which are essential to see where animals are going and how they respond to offshore wind structures.

Project WOW is interested in how wind energy areas (WEA) may impact seabird and fish foraging behavior and movement at different spatiotemporal scales. This ties in with existing work looking at the changes in predator-prey relationships in the marine environment. We are building off the analytical products and incorporating additional datasets to identify environmental factors that may influence foraging behavior of upper-trophic level seabird predators, such as Northern Gannets.

We are working with Stony Brook University for seabird tracking studies, using satellite telemetry and GPS tracking technology. Specifically, we are leading tagging efforts on Northern Gannets to assess movement ecology and habitat use across WEAs. Due to their foraging behaviors and flight altitudes, Northern Gannets are thought to be at risk from collisions with offshore wind turbines.

Using GPS tags, we’re able to get clear information about movement, flight height, and foraging behavior of the tagged birds. We then analyze this data to determine habitat use and likely behaviors and to compare pre- and post- construction movements to see how birds respond to offshore wind development.

In collaboration with the University of Rhode Island, we are testing and refining the application of Motus telemetry in offshore settings. This includes upgrading coastal stations, conducting calibration activities, and using data to estimate 3D detection ranges for stations. BRI researchers are leading these modeling efforts to advance Motus capabilities to monitor species.

Bats are known to collide with terrestrial wind turbines. Bats are present offshore, particularly during migration, but their vulnerability to collisions with offshore wind turbines is poorly understood.

Project WOW examines the collision risk of bats with offshore wind turbines and also seeks to understand the factors that influence bat activity levels. BRI researchers use acoustic monitoring to record high-frequency bat calls and identify species presence and activity levels. This effort contributes to a growing understanding of bat behavior in offshore wind environments throughout the greater Atlantic.

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under the Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO) Award Number DE‐EE0010287. This study was funded in part by the U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Environmental Studies Program, Washington, DC through Inter‐agency Agreement M21PG00011 with the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Department of Energy or the United States Government.