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 aims to understand how baseline marine communities and predator-prey relationships vary across the U.S. Atlantic in relation to offshore wind energy development. Building on previous research on marine food webs, we use existing data products to assess where and when predators, such as seabirds and marine mammals, overlap with their prey within wind energy areas. Our results will clarify how different species and communities may respond to offshore wind development across the region and identify key knowledge gaps.

We are working with Stony Brook University for seabird tracking studies using GPS technology to track the movements of Great Black-Backed Gulls and Northern Gannets. BRI is leading efforts on Northern Gannets to assess movement patterns, behavior, and habitat use across the region in relation to various stages of offshore wind development. Due to their foraging behaviors and flight altitudes and what we know about how the species responds to offshore wind development in Europe, Northern Gannets are thought to be at risk from collisions with offshore wind turbines and may also avoid these areas, leading to potential habitat loss.

Using high-resolution GPS tags coupled with dive sensors, we’re able to get clear information about movement patterns, flight height, and foraging behavior of the tagged birds. We analyze this data to determine the environmental variables contributing to habitat use and likely behaviors and to compare pre-, during, and post- construction 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.

While bat collisions with land-based wind turbines are well documented, much less is known about collision risk offshore. Bats do occur offshore, especially during migration, but their exposure to offshore wind turbines and the environmental factors influencing offshore exposure have not been studied.

Project WOW has deployed acoustic detectors on offshore wind turbines and in coastal areas to document where and when bats are active. Because bat species calls are species specific, our team can identify patterns in species presence and activity. This work, paired with other ongoing studies, 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.