Although the ultimate causes of high bat fatalities at wind farms are not well understood, several lines of evidence suggest that bats are attracted to wind turbines. One hypothesis is that bats would be attracted to turbines as a foraging resource if the insects that bats prey upon are commonly present on and around the turbine towers. To investigate the role that foraging activity may play in bat fatalities, we conducted a series of surveys at a wind farm in the southern Great Plains of the US from 2011–2016. From acoustic monitoring we recorded foraging activity, including feeding buzzes indicative of prey capture, in the immediate vicinity of turbine towers from all six bat species known to be present at this site. From insect surveys we found Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, and Orthoptera in consistently high proportions over several years suggesting that food resources for bats were consistently available at wind turbines. We used DNA barcoding techniques to assess bat diet composition of (1) stomach contents from 47 eastern red bat (Lasiurus borealis) and 24 hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus) carcasses collected in fatality searches, and (2) fecal pellets from 23 eastern red bats that were found on turbine towers, transformers, and tower doors. We found that the majority of the eastern red bat and hoary bat stomachs, the two bat species most commonly found in fatality searches at this site, were full or partially full, indicating that the bats were likely killed while foraging. Although Lepidoptera and Orthoptera dominated the diets of these two bat species, both consumed a range of prey items with individual bats having from one to six insect species in their stomachs at the time of death. The prey items identified from eastern red bat fecal pellets showed similar results. A comparison of the turbine insect community to the diet analysis results revealed that the most abundant insects at wind turbines, including terrestrial insects such as crickets and several important crop pests, were also commonly eaten by eastern red and hoary bats. Collectively, these findings suggest that bats are actively foraging around wind turbines and that measures to minimize bat fatalities should be broadly implemented at wind facilities.

Patterns of bat activity and mortalities at wind energy facilities suggest that bats are attracted to wind turbines based on bat behavioral responses to wind turbines. For example, current monitoring efforts suggest that bat activity increases post-wind turbine construction, with bats making multiple passes near wind turbines. We separated the attraction hypothesis into five previously proposed explanations of bat interactions at or near wind turbines, including attraction based on noise, roost sites, foraging and water, mating behavior, and lights, and one new hypothesis regarding olfaction, and provide a state of the knowledge in 2022. Our review indicates that future research should prioritize attraction based on social behaviors, such as mating and scent-marking, as this aspect of the attraction hypothesis has many postulates and remains the most unclear. Relatively more data regarding attraction to wind turbines based on lighting and noise emission exist, and these data indicate that these are unlikely attractants. Analyzing attraction at the species-level should be prioritized because of differences in foraging, flight, and social behavior among bat species. Lastly, research assessing bat attraction at various scales, such as the turbine or facility scale, is lacking, which could provide important insights for both wind turbine siting decisions and bat mortality minimization strategies. Identifying the causes of bat interactions with wind turbines is critical for developing effective impact minimization strategies.

Bats are killed at wind energy facilities worldwide and we must improve our understanding of why this is happening and implement effective strategies to minimize impacts. To this end, we need accurate assessments of which individuals from which bat species are being killed at individual wind projects and at regional and range-wide scales. Traditional fatality searches have relied on physical characteristics to ascertain species and sex of bat carcasses collected at wind turbines; however, the resulting data can be incomplete and inaccurate. In contrast, the use of readily available and low-cost molecular methods improves both the quality and quantity of available data. We applied such methods to a bat fatality dataset (n = 439 bats) from far-south Texas, USA. Using DNA barcoding, we increased accurate species identification from 83% to 97%, and discovered the presence of 2 bat species outside of their known geographic ranges. Using a PCR-based approach to determine sex, the number of carcasses with correct sex assignment increased from 35% to 94%, and we documented a female-biased sex ratio for all species combined and for Dasypterus ega. We recommend that molecular methods be used during future survey efforts to accurately assess the impacts of wind energy on bats.

"The structure, context and functions of group singing in black-breasted wood-quail (Odontophorus leucolaemus)" published on 01 Jan 2006 by Brill.

A better understanding of the ultimate mechanisms driving bat fatalities at wind turbines (i.e., the reason why bats are coming in close proximity to wind turbines) could inform more effective impact reduction strategies. One hypothesis is that bats come into close proximity to turbines due to existing resources (e.g., roosting sites) in the immediate area. Thus, if resource hotspots for bats could be identified in areas proposed for wind energy development, then fatalities could be reduced by siting turbines away from such hotspots. To explore this, we conducted a resource mapping exercise at a 48 km² wind energy facility in north-central Texas. We mapped known resources (such as water sources, roosting sites, foraging sites, and commuting routes) for the 6 bat species present and compared resource availability with observed fatalities and acoustic activity. Although resource mapping identified concentrations of known resources for all species, it did not predict bat activity or fatalities. For example, Lasiurus cinereus and Lasiurus borealis comprised >90% of the fatalities, yet we found no positive relationship between resource availability and fatalities or acoustic activity for either species. Furthermore, up to 33% of these fatalities occurred at turbines without known resources within 200 m of the turbines, demonstrating that the fine-scale distribution of resources may not effectively inform turbine siting for these two migratory species. The challenge, therefore, remains to determine why bats during the migratory season are coming in close proximity with wind turbines.

The primarily Australian genera Rulingia R.Br. and Commersonia J.R. & G.Forst., as currently circumscribed, are distinguished from each other by the number of antisepalous staminodes. Although most taxonomic treatments recognise Rulingia and Commersonia as separate genera, recent phylogenetic analyses and morphological observations have suggested that neither is monophyletic. In the present study, we test the monophyly of both genera with a phylogenetic analysis of 80 individuals of Rulingia and Commersonia, representing 46 species, using three chloroplast markers. Our analyses recovered the following two well supported clades: Clade 1 includes three species referable to Commersonia and 17 to Rulingia and Clade 2 includes 20 species referable to Commersonia and six to Rulingia. Type species of both Commersonia and Rulingia are in Clade 1, although Commersonia has priority. These results are used to identify lineages that will be formally recognised in accompanying taxonomic treatments. The extensive polyphyly of both Commersonia and Rulingia suggests that the staminode character previously used to separate these two genera is highly homoplastic. We discuss alternative androecial characters that may prove to be synapomorphies for Clades 1 and 2.