Modelling the effect of marine renewable developments on UK seabird populations.

模拟海洋可再生发展对英国海鸟种群的影响。

• 批准号: 1658613
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Glasgow
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2015 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-1658613
• 关键词: Modelling; effect; marine; renewable; developments

Studentship strategic priority area: Ecology, biodiversity and systematics - Ecology 50% - Conservation 50%Keywords (maximum of five keywords): Seabirds, marine renewables, anthropogenic change, wind farms, tidal energy, population viability models, sublethal effectsAbstract: Britain has rapidly become the world leader in offshore renewables, with more offshore wind turbines consented in UK waters than in the rest of the world combined, and many new developments proposed. Britain also holds internationally important populations of many species of seabirds. Impacts of marine renewables on seabird populations are uncertain. All breeding seabird species in the UK are protected by EU law with over 80 Special Protection Areas designated in the UK for seabirds, representing a potential constraint on offshore renewables development, as cumulative impacts could at some point exceed legal thresholds. There is an urgent need to develop a tool to assess cumulative impacts of renewables on seabird populations, to assist developers and regulators to refine assessment of impacts of renewables on seabird populations. This project will address that urgent need. The student will work with academic and industrial supervisors and with scientific staff of the statutory nature conservation bodies (SNCBs) and regulators to develop a population viability analysis (PVA)-based population modelling approach that recognises the meta-population structure of seabird populations, their seasonal migrations and overlap of different international regional populations, and the concept of biologically defined minimum population scales (BDMPS) being promoted by SNCBs. The modelling approach will use the detailed demographic data available for most seabird species and combine that with the high quality colony census data available for seabirds in the UK. Assessments of the impacts of collision mortality and displacement by marine renewables will be coupled with the PVA model to project likely future dynamics. This modelling will assess projected population level impacts of marine renewables at an appropriate spatial scale (regions of the UK marine area or the whole of UK waters depending on the seabird species), with the consequences of impacts partitioned by season (since populations at risk differ among seasons).

学生战略优先领域：生态学、生物多样性和系统学 - 生态学 50% - 保护 50% 关键词（最多 5 个关键词）：海鸟、海洋可再生能源、人为变化、风电场、潮汐能、人口生存模型、亚致死效应 摘要：英国已迅速成为海上可再生能源领域的世界领先者，英国水域批准安装的海上风力涡轮机数量超过了世界其他地区的总和，并且提出了许多新的开发项目。英国还拥有许多国际重要的海鸟种群。海洋可再生能源对海鸟种群的影响尚不确定。英国所有繁殖的海鸟物种均受到欧盟法律的保护，英国为海鸟指定了 80 多个特别保护区，这对海上可再生能源的发展构成了潜在的限制，因为累积影响在某些时候可能会超过法律阈值。迫切需要开发一种工具来评估可再生能源对海鸟种群的累积影响，以协助开发商和监管机构完善可再生能源对海鸟种群影响的评估。该项目将解决这一迫切需求。学生将与学术和行业主管以及法定自然保护机构 (SNCB) 和监管机构的科学人员合作，开发基于种群生存力分析 (PVA) 的种群建模方法，该方法可识别海鸟种群的元种群结构、其季节性迁徙和不同国际区域人口的重叠，以及 SNCB 提倡的生物学定义的最小人口规模 (BDMPS) 的概念。该建模方法将使用大多数海鸟物种可用的详细人口统计数据，并将其与英国海鸟可用的高质量群体普查数据相结合。对海洋可再生能源碰撞死亡率和位移影响的评估将与 PVA 模型相结合，以预测未来可能的动态。该模型将在适当的空间尺度（英国海洋区域或整个英国水域，取决于海鸟种类）评估海洋可再生能源的预计人口水平影响，并按季节划分影响后果（因为面临风险的人口不同）季节之间）。