Renewable energy has become a primary means of addressing climate change. As renewable energy development surges, BRI has been and continues to be a powerful resource for assessing the impacts of renewable energy on wildlife. Our research informs agencies and developers to make environmentally sound decisions with regard to the siting and operation of renewable energy installations.

Careful siting of renewable energy development can play a key role in minimizing impacts to wildlife, and this requires detailed knowledge of animals’ migratory movements, habitat needs, and other life history information. To address this need, BRI established our Wildlife and Renewable Energy Program. 

BRI continues to provide critical information on wildlife necessary to make the most informed decisions to support environmentally-sound renewable energy decisions.  To better understand how BRI carries out this work, see our work on offshore wind in New York, in the Great Lakes, and in the Mid-Atlantic . 

BRI uses the latest advances in technology to obtain the most relevant information, such as Hi-Def Imaging to monitor large areas of the ocean, and using new quantitative lab methods to assess predator-prey relationships. BRI is actively engaged in similar assessments of Solar Energy and Hydroelectric Energy.

Please see a recent example of BRIs research on Assessing Cumulative Exposure of Northern Gannets to Offshore Wind Farms to better understand our work.

BRI’s focus on wildlife serves as a window to the world of climate change: we view a changing climate by observing and understanding changes in wildlife.

For BRI to view climate change through the lens of wildlife, long-term studies are of great importance because the longer the temporal scope of a study, the better we can discern changes over time. Unfortunately, long-term studies on wildlife are rare. The few - and critical - ongoing studies give us important insights that other shorter-term studies can’t. Examples of BRIs commitment to long-term studies – through collaboration and persistence - are highlighted, below.

Also, please see the list of our partners to understand BRI's extensive network, and contact us if you would like to be a part of it.

• BRI's Loon Program – The hallmark of BRIs work, this collaborative effort has been studying loon species across the Northern Hemisphere for three decades. This includes exciting new successful loon restoration efforts that increase the loons’ ability to persist in a climate-changing world.

• BRIs Arctic Program - In the face of climate change, the conservation of Arctic ecosystems is one of the greatest ecological and political challenges of our time. BRI has established an Arctic Program to contribute to this effort through participation in collaborative research and conservation initiatives designed to identify new and emerging stressors and to inform stakeholders and policymakers about our science.

• Tracking Wildlife – Some of the most pronounced responses of wildlife to climate change can be seen in the changes to their traditional movement patterns.  BRI has been involved in cutting-edge research to understand these complicated impacts including:
  • Multiple Species (animal movement in the Arctic); Marine Birds (Northern Gannets,  American common eiders and migratory sea ducks); Loons (Red-throated Loons) and Raptors (Migrant raptors along the Atlantic Flyway )

• Supporters, Collaborators, and Affiliations – It is only through the breadth, depth, and strength of our network that BRI can accomplish its goals, particularly in sustaining long-term studies that are expensive and difficult to sustain over time.

One way BRI works to better to understand the sensitivity of ecosystems to climate change is by investigating how ecosystems are impacted by other environmental stressors over time. BRI has spearheaded multiple efforts, including:

• Uncovering the Impacts of Global Mercury Contamination to wildlife: BRI is a global leader in understanding the impacts of mercury contamination to wildlife.  For example, through its efforts to support the UN Minamata Convention on Mercury, it has established the only global database on mercury impacts to wildlife

• Highlighting the Importance of Restoration and Reintroduction: In order to address decades of contamination and loss of range for the common loon in the Northeast United States, BRI has launched an ambitious reintroduction effort that will help to  restore the call of the wild

• Discovering critical insights from Sensitive Sentinel Species: Through extensive and prolonged collaborative research efforts, BRI has lead the way to discovering the critical importance of songbirds as sensitive sentinel species that help understand the complexities of food webs to understand the impact of mercury on ecosystems.

BRI has invested in building sound and diverse science capacity that harnesses the latest in cutting-edge tools and methods needed for understanding climate change impacts to wildlife.  For examples of BRI’s robust science capacity,  have a look at some of our ecological modeling efforts and use of new technology to generate comprehensive ecological assessments.