Work

Systematic review protocol for evaluating the ecological effects of ground-mounted photovoltaic facilities on faunistic biodiversity in grasslands✰

Year: 2026

Type: review

Abstract: Biodiversity loss and climate change are two interconnected crises, but are often addressed separately in policy and land-use planning, which creates trade-offs, especially regarding renewable energy systems. As photovoltaic (PV) installations expand globally, concerns about how this land-use change affects biodiversity are growing. Few studies have examined the effects of ground-mounted PV facilities on biodiversity, and evidence remains limited, especially for faunistic biodiversity. Thus, we defined this systematic review protocol in January 2024, according to PRISMA guidelines and applying the PECO framework to guide a relatedsystematic review. Especially, development of adequate search string and validation of its comprehensiveness crucial: A systematic search string was developed using the R packages "litsearchr" (Grames et al. 2019) with an additional pruning exercise which improved the search string result. And, a workflow was developed to validate the comprehensiveness of different search strings using a benchmark list of publications and publications found by applying a search string from a published systematic map with a broader research question. In addition, the application and screening using the software CADIMA increased transparency and reproducibility of the method. Therefore, this protocol could serve as a blueprint for similar research questions involving other ecosystems by adapting published methods to a specific ecological question.

Source: MethodsX

DOI: 10.1016/j.mex.2026.104209