Pint of Science: Of The Birds and The Bugs

Of The Birds and The Bugs: Looking at the world from a different perspective

Join Pint of Science on the 15th May at 7 pm at Kino Events House to talk about all things big and small that inhabit this planet with us…from microbes that live in and on our bodies and the unique language they use to communicate to what our birdlife make of giant offshore wind farms. 

 

MaREI’s Astrid Dedieu, a PhD researcher at University College Cork will give a talk on the topic ‘Ireland, seabirds and offshore wind farms: what’s going on exactly?!’ 

The Irish government set a target of 7GW of power generated by offshore wind by 2030 (that’s a lot!). Many new developments are planned in Irish waters but little is know on their potential impacts on the marine environment. Seabirds can be affected by offshore wind farms (OWF) through direct collision or displacement (the avoidance of the area which results in habitat loss). My job is to fit breeding seabirds such as puffins and terns with mini GPS trackers to see where they forage at sea. The goal is to identify the risks specific to our beloved Irish seabird species and try to mitigate these before the construction of offshore wind farms.

 

 

Learn more about Pint of Science here.