Selection of priority areas for implementing effective mitigation actions on avifauna in power lines installed in southeastern Brazil

Abstract

The continuous growth in the energy sector requires changes in the landscape that include the installa-tion of new transmission and distribution lines. In addition to the impacts arising from the fragmentation and loss of their habitats, birds are also exposed to the risk of death from collision and electrocution with these structures. To minimize this risk, back up the adoption of mitigation measures, and prioritize areas of greater susceptibility to these effects, we present a method for planning and select-ing areas based on data from potentially protected bird communities collected in field. Samplings were carried out along two high-voltage transmission lines already imple-mented in the southeastern region of Brazil along the 18 monitored stretches. The observations of bird f light behav-ior and use of airspace were evaluated at the taxonomic level of families, and we applied chi-square tests (α = 0.05) for these two risk variables. The results showed seven areas with potential for prioritizing mitigation actions, show-ing that the sampling design was effective and can apply to similar projects.