Ecological tradeoff? Utility-scale solar energy impedes endangered
Florida panthers
Study first to document effects of utility-scale solar energy
installations on a large carnivore

Date:
January 12, 2022
Source:
Florida Atlantic University
Summary:
Reducing the energy industry's carbon footprint in the sunshine
state is impeding a large carnivore's paw-print. A study is the
first to document the effect of utility-scale solar energy (USSE)
facilities in Peninsular Florida on both habitat suitability and
connectivity for any large carnivore. The study examined 45 USSE
facilities equaling 27,688 acres.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Florida, the "Sunshine State," is rapidly increasing installation of
utility- scale solar energy (USSE) facilities to combat carbon emissions
and climate change. However, the expansion of renewable energy may come
with environmental tradeoffs. Reducing the energy industry's carbon
footprint is impeding a large carnivore's paw-print.


==========================================================================
Once ranging throughout the southeastern United States, the only
breeding population of the endangered Florida panther (Puma concolor
coryi) is restricted to a little more than 5 percent of its historic
range in South Florida. Florida panthers need corridors for dispersal,
which most commonly occurs when they leave their maternal range to head
out on their own. Moreover, they have very large home ranges -- males
need about 200 square miles, and their survival relies on their ability
to move from protected area to protected area through wildlife corridors.

Researchers from Florida Atlantic University conducted the first study documenting the effect of USSE facilities on both habitat suitability and broad-scale connectivity of suitable habitat for any large carnivore. The
study encompassed Peninsular Florida, excluding the Panhandle region,
and focused on 45 installed or planned USSE facilities equaling about
27,688 acres -- the average area of a USSE plant was about 615 acres.

Researchers compared Florida panther habitat suitability and connectivity
pre- and post-installation of USSE facilities within Peninsular Florida
using random forest to predict probability of presence in 1 square
kilometer cells and circuit theory to predict movement probability between
the areas of suitable habitat. They also utilized panther radio-telemetry
data collected by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
(FWC) from February 1981 to June 2020 to validate the predicted corridors.

Results of the study, published in the Journal of Applied Ecology,showed
that most often, solar facilities were installed on grasslands and
pastures (45.7 percent of total area replaced by solar facilities), and agricultural lands (34.9 percent). Forest was the third most impacted
land cover category (13.2 percent). The findings suggest a substantial
bias in locating USSE facilities within rural and undeveloped lands,
which may provide connectivity that is sufficient for Florida panthers
to roam, live and breed.

The greatest impacts occurred where facilities were located within
a predicted major corridor, where current density was substantially
greater than its surroundings, and where no alternative major corridors
exist. Researchers found nine facilities located within major corridors connecting the current breeding habitat and other core areas with the
potential to support populations of Florida panther. They found an
additional 26 facilities located in rural areas between core areas with relatively weaker current densities compared to the major corridors,
but that could potentially support dispersal. Of the remaining facilities
in this study, four were within or directly adjacent to core areas, and
only six facilities had no to very minimal potential expected impact on
core areas or connectivity.



==========================================================================
"Our study suggests that in the drive to shift our energy production
to carbon neutral sources, while maintaining maximum profitability,
wildlife outside human dominated landscapes with large ranges and
dispersal potentials may be pushed into less favorable habitat or cut
off completely from available habitat by degradation of corridors,"
said Olena V. Leskova, M.S., senior author, a Ph.D. student in FAU's
Department of Geosciences within the Charles E. Schmidt College of
Science and a geographer/geospatial scientist at the South Florida Water Management District.

Most USSE facilities in this study are surrounded by 6-foot-tall
chain-link fences, topped with barbed wire, which is assumed to cause
dispersal redirection. Some facilities use wildlife-friendly 6-foot
split rail fences with wide mesh or short intervals of 4-foot split rail
fences with wide mesh and some have double fences. Ecological costs of
fencing to wildlife include disrupting their migration routes, dividing
their habitats, restricting their range and evolutionary potential and
directly or indirectly causing injury or death.

"Formally protecting and enhancing the remaining corridors between core
areas at the landscape-scale will potentially ameliorate, or mitigate,
the impacts already evident after installation of some facilities, and
may prevent foreseeable impacts with additional planned facilities,"
said Scott H.

Markwith, Ph.D., co-author and a professor in FAU's Department of
Geosciences.

"Restoring dispersal corridors and gene flow throughout Peninsular
Florida is critical to the Florida panther, its prey, and ancillary
species that benefit from a connected Florida ecosystem. This, in turn,
will benefit biodiversity and species resiliency at the landscape-scale."
Solar capacity in Florida is forecasted to grow over 10 years from
1,743 to 12,537 megawatts, with major electric companies planning
substantial expansions. The researchers note that USSE facilities
installed in clusters may create greater connectivity disruption than
single facilities, especially when installed as a nearly continuous
barrier perpendicular to the corridor. This practice of clustering
facilities is attractive to energy companies because it decreases the
amount of supporting infrastructure such as roads and transmission lines,
and consolidates maintenance activities.

"We believe that regulatory and permitting agencies, and the electrical companies themselves, should begin taking landscape connectivity into
account when planning and permitting USSE facility site locations,"
said Leskova.

Impacts are expected on other endangered and protected wildlife species
in Florida, including those that have large spatial requirements and/or specific habitat requirements, such as gopher tortoises, eastern indigo
snakes, Florida scrub jay, Florida burrowing owls, and Florida black
bears.

"Research involving additional impacted species will also fill gaps in environmental protection policy concerning both local and regional scale implications of utility-scale solar energy facilities," said Markwith.

Study co-author is Robert Frakes, Ph.D., an ecologist specializing in
panther habitat modeling and conservation.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Florida_Atlantic_University. Original written by Gisele Galoustian. Note: Content may be edited for style
and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Olena V. Leskova, Robert A. Frakes, Scott H. Markwith. Impacting
habitat
connectivity of the endangered Florida panther for the transition
to utility‐scale solar energy. Journal of Applied Ecology,
2022; DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.14098 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220112105703.htm
--- up 5 weeks, 4 days, 7 hours, 13 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)