Kathryn Williams

• MS
• Director of the Center for Research on Offshore Wind and the Environment at Biodiversity Research Institute

With increased focus on offshore wind (OSW) as a renewable energy resource in the United States and elsewhere, there are concerns about OSW impacts to wildlife, particularly birds and marine mammals. This study identifies technology gaps and technological research and development (R&D) priorities for monitoring marine mammals and birds for fixed an...

Offshore wind energy (OSW) development, while a key strategy for reducing global reliance on fossil fuels, nevertheless has environmental effects that should be mitigated. We reviewed the scientific literature and gray literature to identify approaches for mitigating (e.g., avoiding, minimizing, or compensating for) the effects of OSW development o...

The offshore wind energy (OSW) industry is pivotal for renewable energy transition and climate resiliency. However, OSW activities may negatively affect aerofauna, contributing to CE from human activities and natural processes. Cumulative effects assessments (CEA) are vital for informed planning and management of OSW activities during regional asse...

Offshore wind energy development (OWED), while a key strategy for reducing carbon emissions, has potential negative effects to wildlife that should be examined to inform decision making and adaptive management as the industry expands. We present a conceptual framework to guide the long-term study of potential effects to birds and bats from OWED. Th...

Forage fishes are a critical food web link in marine ecosystems, aggregating in a hierarchical patch structure over multiple spatial and temporal scales. Surface-level forage fish aggregations (FFAs) represent a concentrated source of prey available to surface- and shallow-foraging marine predators. Existing survey and analysis methods are often im...

Resource availability is a key factor driving marine bird movements and distributions, but direct information on prey availability is difficult to obtain at relevant scales. We present novel methods for describing multi-scale trophic associations, combining movement analyses of marine birds with estimates of forage fish surface aggregations from di...

The offshore wind (OSW) energy industry is rapidly developing in the United States. New federal mandates require at least 30 GW of OSW by 2030. With the largest goal in the eastern United States, the state of New York seeks to advance OSW in a way that is both environmentally and socially responsible as well as cost‐effective. To achieve this, New...

Forage fishes are a critical food web link in marine ecosystems, aggregating in a hierarchical patch structure over multiple spatial and temporal scales. Surface-level forage fish aggregations (FFAs) represent a concentrated source of available prey for surface- and shallow-foraging marine predators. Existing survey and analysis methods are often i...

Offshore wind energy development (OWED) is rapidly expanding globally and has the potential to contribute significantly to renewable energy portfolios. However, development of infrastructure in the marine environment presents risks to wildlife. Marine birds in particular have life history traits that amplify population impacts from displacement and...

Final workshop proceedings for the 2020 State of the Science Workshop on Wildlife and Offshore Wind Energy

No PDF available ABSTRACT There are substantial knowledge gaps regarding both the bioacoustics and the responses of animals to sounds associated with pre-construction, construction, and operations of offshore wind (OSW) energy development. A workgroup of the 2020 State of the Science Workshop on Wildlife and Offshore Wind Energy recommended priorit...

There are substantial knowledge gaps regarding both the bioacoustics and the responses of animals to sounds associated with pre-construction, construction, and operations of offshore wind (OSW) energy development. A workgroup of the 2020 State of the Science Workshop on Wildlife and Offshore Wind Energy identified studies for the next five years to...

Curtailment of turbine operations during low wind conditions has become an operational minimization tactic to reduce bat mortality at terrestrial wind energy facilities. Site-specific studies have demonstrated that bat activity is higher during lower wind speeds and that operational curtailment can effectively reduce fatalities. However, the exact...

Blanket curtailment of turbine operations during low wind conditions has become an accepted operational minimization tactic to reduce bat mortality at terrestrial wind facilities. Site-specific studies have demonstrated that operational curtailment effectively reduces impacts, but the exact nature of the relationship between increased cut-in speed...

This report is one outcome from a broader effort to review the state of knowledge regarding offshore wind energy development's effects on wildlife and identify short-term research priorities to improve our understanding of cumulative biological impacts as the offshore wind industry develops in the eastern United States. This effort, titled State of...

This report is one outcome from a broader effort to review the state of knowledge regarding offshore wind energy development's effects on wildlife and identify short-term research priorities to improve our understanding of cumulative biological impacts as the offshore wind industry develops in the eastern United States. This effort, titled State of...

This report is one outcome from a broader effort to review the state of knowledge regarding offshore wind energy development's effects on wildlife and identify short-term research priorities to improve our understanding of cumulative biological impacts as the offshore wind industry develops in the eastern United States. This effort, titled State of...

This report is one outcome from a broader effort to review the state of knowledge regarding offshore wind energy development's effects on wildlife and identify short-term research priorities to improve our understanding of cumulative biological impacts as the offshore wind industry develops in the eastern United States. This effort, titled State of...

This report is one outcome from a broader effort to review the state of knowledge regarding offshore wind energy development's effects on wildlife and identify short-term research priorities to improve our understanding of cumulative biological impacts as the offshore wind industry develops in the eastern United States. This effort, titled State of...

This report is one outcome from a broader effort to review the state of knowledge regarding offshore wind energy development's effects on wildlife and identify short-term research priorities to improve our understanding of cumulative biological impacts as the offshore wind industry develops in the eastern United States. This effort, titled State of...

This report is one outcome from a broader effort to review the state of knowledge regarding offshore wind energy development's effects on wildlife and identify short-term research priorities to improve our understanding of cumulative biological impacts as the offshore wind industry develops in the eastern United States. This effort, titled State of...

Many migratory songbirds are at high risk of methylmercury (MeHg) exposure due to their trophic position and foraging in and around wetland habitats. Methylmercury has the potential to alter migratory behaviors and physiology via neurological impairment or reduced flight performance and can be remobilized from songbird muscle tissue during migratio...

Electricity from wind energy is a major contributor to the strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel use and thus reduce the negative impacts of climate change. Wind energy, like all power sources, can have adverse impacts on wildlife. After nearly 25 years of focused research, these impacts are much better understood, although u...

Hotspot analysis is a commonly used method in ecology and conservation to identify areas of high biodiversity or conservation concern. However, delineating and mapping hotspots is subjective and various approaches can lead to different conclusions with regard to the classification of particular areas as hotspots, complicating long‐term conservation...

Offshore wind energy development on the US Atlantic Continental Shelf has brought attention to the need for marine spatial planning efforts to reduce potential conflict between wind turbines and marine animals, including seabirds. We evaluated the effects of marine mammals, fishes, and habitat characteristics on the distribution and relative abunda...

Proposed offshore wind energy development on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf has brought attention to the need for baseline studies of the distribution and abundance of marine birds. We compiled line transect data from 15 shipboard surveys (June 2012 to April 2014), along with associated remotely-sensed habitat data, in the lower Mid-Atlantic...

Final technical report to the Department of Energy, October 2015 (Full report)

This 8-page publication is a full-color summary of project goals, activities, and findings for the Maryland-funded expansion of the larger Mid-Atlantic Baseline Studies Project. This communications piece represents an overview of results from the final technical report for the Maryland-focused study, and features survey results and case studies on...

This 32-page publication is a full-color summary of project goals, activities, and findings, and represents an overview of results from the final technical report for the Mid-Atlantic Baseline Studies Project. This communications piece explores aspects of the mid-Atlantic ecosystem; describes our survey and analytical approaches; and presents a ran...

Distance sampling is a common survey method in wildlife studies, because it allows accounting for imperfect detection. The framework has been extended to hierarchical distance sampling (HDS), which accommodates the modelling of abundance as a function of covariates, but rare and elusive species may not yield enough observations to fit such a model....

Little is known about the migration and movements of migratory tree-roosting bat species in North America, though anecdotal observations of migrating bats over the Atlantic Ocean have been reported since at least the 1890s. Aerial surveys and boat-based surveys of wildlife off the Atlantic Seaboard detected a possible diurnal migration event of eas...

The Laurentian Great Lakes region of North America contains substantial aquatic resources and mercury-contaminated landscapes, fish, and wildlife. This special issue emanated from a bi-national synthesis of data from monitoring programs and case studies of mercury in the region, here defined as including the Great Lakes, the eight U.S. states borde...

This special issue examines bioaccumulation and risks of methylmercury in food webs, fish and wildlife in the Laurentian Great Lakes region of North America, and explores mercury policy in the region and elsewhere in the United States and Canada. A total of 35 papers emanated from a bi-national synthesis of multi-media data from monitoring programs...

This special issue examines bioaccumulation and risks of methylmercury in food webs, fish and wildlife in the Laurentian Great Lakes region of North America, and explores mercury policy in the region and elsewhere in the United States and Canada. A total of 35 papers emanated from a bi-national synthesis of multi-media data from monitoring programs...

Much of the Laurentian Great Lakes region is a mercury-sensitive landscape, in which atmospheric deposition and waterborne sources of mercury (Hg) have led to high concentrations of bioavailable methylmercury (MeHg) in predatory fish and piscivorous wildlife. Efforts since the early 1990s have established the common loon (Gavia immer) as the primar...

The risk of mercury (Hg) exposure to humans and wildlife from fish consumption has driven extensive mercury analysis throughout the Great Lakes Region since the 1970s. This study compiled fish-Hg data from multiple sources in the region and assessed spatiotemporal trends of Hg concentrations in two representative top predator fish species. Walleye...

Many populations of animals are fluid in both space and time, making estimation of numbers difficult. Much attention has been devoted to estimation of bias in detection of animals that are present at the time of survey. However, an equally important problem is estimation of population size when all animals are not present on all survey occasions. H...

MERGANSER (MERcury Geo-spatial AssessmeNtS for the New England Region) is an empirical least squares multiple regression model using atmospheric deposition of mercury (Hg) and readily obtainable lake and watershed features to predict fish and common loon Hg in New England lakes. We modeled lakes larger than 8 ha and with drainage area completely wi...

Estimating detection error, as well as the magnitude of other potential survey biases, is essential when sampling efforts play a role in the estimation of population size and management of wildlife populations. We quantified visual biases in aerial surveys of nesting wading birds (Ciconiiformes) in colonies in the Florida Everglades using a negativ...