Business and Biodiversity Initiative

Difficulties in reducing the impact of economic activities on biodiversity often stem from a lack of information about the best way to do this (which is why we're working on the B&B handbook).  Two new pieces of research address this technical shortfall.

The first development (via the Guardian) should help protect bats from the spinning blades of wind turbines.  Apparently the use of radar attached to the turbine caused bats to avoid the turbines:

"His (head researcher Paul Racey of the University of Aberdeen) results showed that a fixed antenna was most effective at keeping the bats away. Radar signals led to a drop in bat activity of 38.6% in an area 30 metres from the device. The animals appeared to be unharmed by the experience and returned once the radar was switched off. With refinement and purpose-built radar transmitters, the effect could be even greater, said the researchers. "We want 80- 90% reduction in bat activity," said Racey."

Given the rush to green energy supplies, ensuring that wind turbines have a lower impact on the surrounding biodiversity an important development.

The second development ( via Scientific American) can help protect whales. According to the article "collisions with ships continue to be the leading cause of human-induced casualties for the North Atlantic right whale, an endangered population that is estimated to have declined to around 350."

Essentially researchers are using heat detection to search for the whales spout.  The technology has just completed its first test, although further refinement is required to reduce the number of false positives.