Wind energy development alters breeding habitat of the Bicknell's Thrush, a threatened range-restricted boreal songbird: evidence for opportunities in biodiversity-informed spatial planning

Understanding how wind energy infrastructure affects breeding habitat for species with restricted distributions is essential for reconciling climate mitigation ( e.g. , renewable energy) with biodiversity conservation. We evaluated how the development of four wind farms in a mountainous landscape of eastern Québec (Canada) affects breeding habitat for the globally Vulnerable Bicknell's Thrush ( Catharus bicknelli ). Building on the first published high-resolution habitat occupancy model for the species in Québec, we reinterpolated pre-development occurrence probability in areas with infrastructures built prior to the model's development. We quantified impacts on two classes of breeding habitat priority (mitigation and protection) using landscape metrics and patch-size distributions. Spatial alternatives under different development scenarios were evaluated by combining wind potential, habitat priority, and habitat aggregation. Wind energy infrastructure reduced the amount of predicted breeding habitat and altered its spatial configuration, with impacts increasing from lower- to higher-priority breeding habitats. Development reduced the contribution of large habitat patches and reorganized the landscape into smaller and structurally simpler habitat units. Impacts varied strongly between wind farms, with the only built project generating the largest share of habitat loss due to its overlap with higher-priority breeding habitat. Under an equally balanced scenario between wind opportunity and ecological stake, the landscape could theoretically accommodate development in eight times the total area of all four wind farms before substantial impacts on the protection habitat class occur. Our results suggest that integrating high-resolution species-specific habitat information as early as possible in the planning process may reduce conflicts between renewable energy development and biodiversity conservation.