Wind Farms & The Side-Blotched Lizard

I don’t know about yall but studies like this are why I love scientific research. How do you even think that wind farms may have an impact on nonvolant, flightless animals, and their parasite load, number of parasites on them, from?! I’m sure a lot of previous research and observation went into it but still!

I always say that science is just another way I express my creativity. You need to be creative in some ways to connect prior knowledge and observation to see patterns. And come up with innovative studies like this one!

Alaasam et al captured side-blotched lizards, Uta stansburiana, from 3 wind farms and compared their parasite loads to lizards collected from undisturbed reference sites in the San Gorgonio Pass wind resource area in the Mojave Desert, California. Using a handheld lens, they counted the number of external parasites on each of the 180 lizards they had collected.

Photo from Alaasam VJ, Keehn JE, Durso AM, French SS, Feldman CR. 2020. Ectoparasite Load Is Reduced in Side-Blotched Lizards (Uta stansburiana) at Wind Farms: Implications for Oxidative Stress. Physiological and Biochemical Zoology. 94(1). doi: 10.1086/712100

Contrary to their hypothesis, they found that lizards at wind farms had less external parasites than those further away. They think that perhaps the lack of shade bushes, greater human disturbances, and soil conditions may make wind farms unhospitable to these parasites.

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