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Research
Research
interests |
Raptor biology, ecology
and conservation |
Avian collision ecology
| Semi-popular publications
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Scientific publications
Avian collision ecology
Research in in this category includes projects on the biology
and population-level impacts and
mitigation of bird collisions with man-made obstacles, as well as the
implications of measured movement patterns for susceptibility to
collision.
The nature, frequency and consequences of collisions by large
terrestrial birds with power lines in South Africa
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Building on provisional data collected by Andrew Jenkins, Jessica Shaw
did this ground-breaking work on crane and bustard collisions with
power lines in South Africa as MSc and PhD theses respectively,
registered at the FitzPatrick Institute, UCT, and under the
supervision of Prof. Peter Ryan and Andrew Jenkins. Jessica was the
first to fully quantify casualty rates of both Blue Crane and Ludwig’s
Bustard on SA power lines, to assess the demographic consequences of
this mortality, and to test the efficacy of line marking in mitigating
this potentially unsustainable impact. She is now working for Scottish
Natural Heritage in the UK, but is still publishing papers arising
from her PhD.
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Radar tracking as a means to predict Great White Pelican collision
rates with a proposed wind farm on the Cape West Coast
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This work was done by AVISENSE in collaboration with NCC Environmental
Consulting, Geocline, EchoTrack and Dr Tim Reid of the FitzPatrick
Institute, UCT, and on contract to Moyeng Energy (Pty) Ltd. The study
was the first of its kind done in South Africa, and used radar to
track the flights paths of Great White Pelicans in relation to a
proposed wind energy development. After accumulating a large sample of
3-D flight tracks, we were able to model pelican collision risk and
devise a potential impact mitigation scheme for the wind farm, based
on operational management of the highest risk turbines in the proposed
layout. With permission from Moyeng, we hope to publish the results of
this study soon.
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