You suggest that wind turbines kill bats as a result of air-pressure changes when they fly through the wake of a spinning blade (the barotrauma hypothesis). However, this is likely to be only a minor cause of bat deaths (Nature 486, 310–311; 2012).
The barotrauma hypothesis has been criticized as based on erroneous interpretations of bat injuries (K.E. Rollins et al. Vet. Pathol. 49, 362–371; 2012). Evidence from bat carcasses shows that blunt-force trauma from the spinning blades is a much more common killing mechanism (see also S.M. Grodsky et al. J. Mammal. 92, 917–925; 2011).
We hope that this finding will be useful in mitigating the effects of wind turbines on bat mortality.
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Capparella, A., Loew, S. & Meyerholz, D. Bat deaths from wind turbine blades. Nature 488, 32 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/488032d
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/488032d