About two weeks ago I spoke to Bryan and Tammy Walker, of Coldwater, Michigan, farmers who have leased a portion of their land for a new solar facility.
Their comments indicated a keen awareness of the newly created safe habitat that has been created under hundreds of formerly farmed acres. Bryan mentioned how withholding agricultural chemicals like Roundup could be good for the watershed. Tammy was struck by the number of pollinators in the solar fields, and how the panels created a safe space for smaller critters.
They’re talking about the bottom of the food chain, the critical piece that we are knocking out all over the planet, contributing to the Bio Diversity crisis that is climate change’s evil sibling (one of many). An emerging discipline, conservoltaics, is examining the link between solar, soil, and habitat.
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (UK):
The research by scientists from the RSPB and University of Cambridge as part of the Centre for Landscape Regeneration found that – hectare for hectare – solar farms in agriculturally dominated East Anglia contained a greater number of bird species and overall number of birds than surrounding arable farmland.
The highest abundance of threatened bird species such as Corn Buntings, Yellowhammers and Linnets were found in mixed habitat solar farms and these were significantly higher than in both surrounding arable land and in the simple habitat solar sites. These mixed habitat solar sites also held the highest total abundance of bird species. This suggests that nature-friendly management practices could provide a significant boost for birds.
The two studied solar sites were planted with native grasses and flowering plants in early 2018. From August 2018 through August 2022, the researchers conducted 358 observational surveys for flowering vegetation and insect communities. They evaluated changes in plant and insect abundance and diversity with each visit.
By the end of the field campaign, the team observed increases for all habitat and biodiversity metrics. There was an increase in native plant species diversity and flower abundance. In addition, the team observed increases in the abundance and diversity of native insect pollinators and agriculturally beneficial insects, which included honeybees, native bees, wasps, hornets, hoverflies, other flies, moths, butterflies and beetles. Flowers and flowering plant species increased as well. Total insect abundance tripled, while native bees showed a 20-fold increase in numbers. The most numerous insect groups observed were beetles, flies and moths.
In an added benefit, the researchers found that pollinators from the solar sites also visited soybean flowers in adjacent crop fields, providing additional pollination services.
The clearest numbers come from three Spanish provinces. At Minglanilla, in Cuenca, researchers counted 32 bird species inside the solar plant and 19 in the nearby control area. At Revilla Vallejera, in Burgos, they found 39 species inside and 34 outside, while Trujillo, in Cáceres, showed 31 inside and 25 outside.
Those counts came from studies by the environmental consultancy EMAT and were highlighted by UNEF, Spain’s solar industry association. The same work also documented birds of special ecological interest, including stone-curlews, little bustards, European rollers, little owls, and lesser kestrels.