Wildfires as collateral effects of wildlife electrocution: An economic approach to the situation in Spain in recent years

Guil, F; Soria, M.Á.; Margalida, Antoni; Pérez-García, J.M. (2018). Wildfires as collateral effects of wildlife electrocution: An economic approach to the situation in Spain in recent years. Science of the total environment, 625, pp. 460-469. Elsevier 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.12.242

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The interaction between wildlife and power lines has collateral effects that include wildfires and Carbon Dioxide(CO2) emissions. However, currently available information is scarce and so new approaches are needed to increaseour understanding of this issue. Here, we present thefirst analysis of wildfires and their incidence as a result of thisinteraction in Spain during the period 2000–2012. Amongst the 2788 Power-Line Mediated Wildfires (PLMW re-corded) during this period, 30 records of Fauna Mediated Wildfires (FMW) were found, with an average affectedvegetation cover of 9.06 ha. Ourfindings suggest that no significant differences were observed between the amountof affected surface area due to fauna mediated wildfires and power-line mediated wildfires. In both cases, a space-grouping trend was observed. In terms ofchanging trends over time, after thefirst incident detected in 2005, thenumber of incidents increased until 2008, year in which the percentage of wildfires caused by wildlife stabilizedat approximately 2.4% of all power-line-induced wildfires. Population density and road abundance were variablesthat better explained PLMW whereas for FMW, the modelsthat included land use and raptor abundance. In the mul-tivariate model, FMW emergence was positively related with population density, percentage of grazing areas andNatura 2000 cover, and predatory abundance; and negatively with the percentage of forested area. No significantdifferences were observed between the species of birds that caused wildfires and the species of ringed birds killedby electrocution. The economic and environmental impact due to necessary repairs, the loss of biodiversity andCO2emissions represent an estimated net value of€7.6–12.4 M for the period 2000–2012, which indicates the im-portance of the economic and environmental costs associated with wildfires.

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