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I'm also thinking that birds will adapt because it seems like a relatively simple change in their behavior would fix the problem. Natural selection will play it
by tachyonbeam 7y ago
I'm also thinking that birds will adapt because it seems like a relatively simple change in their behavior would fix the problem. Natural selection will play its course. The birds who are dumb enough to fly into wind turbines will get weeded out. Future generations of bird will be more fearful of wind turbines. This kind of selection can start to take place over a relatively short span of time. See peppered moth evolution [1].
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peppered_moth_evolution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peppered_moth_evolution
- quicklime 7y agoHow long would it take for natural selection to play its course though? Moths live for maybe a year, while a bird might live for a few decades. And the soot from the industrial revolution would've covered the entire environment for a peppered moth, whereas many birds fly over incredibly large distances, which wind turbines will only cover a small fraction of.
- rwmj 7y agoThere were articles a while back about birds evolving shorter wings and larger brains to avoid cars: Wings: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/are-birds-evolving-to-avoid-cars-3530859/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/are-birds-evolving... Brains: https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2017/03/30/small-brained-birds-get-killed-by-cars https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2017/03/30/...