A dataset of seabird collision and displacement vulnerability factors relatively to marine wind farms in Portugal

The implementation of marine wind farms has grown considerably along northern European's northern Atlantic coasts (e.g. Baltic and North Sea) and a boom in these infrastructures is expected to take place along Europe's entire Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts. Accordingly, the Portuguese government has recently proposed priority sites for the construction of wind farms along the mainland coast. We used sensitivity mapping (Garthe & Hüppop, 2004) to assess which areas along the Portuguese coast are most sensitive for seabirds and to what extent the proposed sites for wind farm construction overlap with these areas.

This dataset contains the base data to estimate a seabird Species Sensitivity Index (SSI) (following Bradbury et al., 2014, Certain et al., 2015), including scores for 11 species-specific ecological and behavioural factors related with seabird species' (i) vulnerability to collision with wind farms (4 factors), (ii) vulnerability to displacement due to disturbance by wind farms and associated maintenance (3 factors), and (iii) conservation status (4 factors). 

We reviewed the literature to mine and compile data on these factors for 34 seabird species that regularly occur along the Portuguese mainland coast. We updated factor scores, particularly for those factors that have been studied in greater detail in recent years using tracking technologies (Clairbaux & Jessopp, 2021). However, in many cases empirical data were unavailable and we used the scores presented in previous sensitivity mapping studies (Garthe & Hüppop, 2004; Bradbury et al., 2014; Certain et al., 2015; Wade et al., 2016; Serratosa & Allinson, 2022).