Colour as a behavioural guide for fish near hydrokinetic turbines

Sonnino Sorisio, Guglielmo, Muller, Stephanie, Wilson, Catherine A.M.E. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7128-590X, Ouro, Pablo ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6411-8241 and Cable, Jo ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8510-7055 2023. Colour as a behavioural guide for fish near hydrokinetic turbines. Heliyon 9 (12) , E22376. 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e22376

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Abstract

Hydropower is a traditional and widespread form of renewable energy and vertical axis turbines are an emerging technology suitable for low to medium velocity water bodies such as rivers. Such devices can provide renewable power to remote communities but may also contribute to fragmenting already poorly connected riverine habitats and the impact could be particularly pronounced for migratory diadromous aquatic species such as salmonids by limiting their ability to pass the turbines. Optimising the design of such turbines is therefore essential to mitigate their impact on aquatic fauna. One easily altered property that does not impact turbine performance is blade colour. Here, juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) free swimming within a flume were monitored in the presence of a vertical axis turbine that was either stationary or rotating, and coloured white or orange. The orange colour of the turbine affected behaviour by increasing turbine avoidance and decreasing the number of potentially harmful interactions with the turbine when it was rotating, whilst not affecting passage or mobility of the trout compared to the white turbine. Visibility is therefore a potentially useful tool in mitigating the environmental impact of hydrokinetic turbines.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Biosciences Engineering
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	2405-8440
Funders:	NERC, EPSRC
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	16 November 2023
Date of Acceptance:	10 November 2023
Last Modified:	03 Jan 2024 17:36
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/163961

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