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Table 1 List of eligibility criteria used at title and full-text screening

From: Existing evidence on the effects of photovoltaic panels on biodiversity: a systematic map with critical appraisal of study validity

Include

Exclude

Populations

Populations

- All wild terrestrial and semi-aquatic species found globally (i.e. animals, plants, fungi, microorganisms living fully or partially in natural/semi-natural terrestrial habitats and ecosystems)

- All natural/semi-natural habitats and ecosystems (i.e. areas in terms of land use/land cover)

- Humans

- Domesticated or cultivated species

- Strictly aquatic or marine species (microalgae, fishes)

- Urban and agricultural habitats and ecosystems (i.e. areas in terms of land use/land cover)

Exposures

Exposures

- All technologies of PV panels (e.g. monocrystalline, CdTe) whatever their configurations (i.e. on roofs, ground, or water)

- Real or simulated PV panels

- All scales of PV installations whether it be cells, panels, arrays, or wider USSE facilities

- The whole lifecycle of USSE facilities (i.e. construction, operation and dismantlement phases)

- Management practices being carried out at USSE facilities (e.g. mowing, grazing, rehabilitation)

- PV-powered devices such as global positioning tracking systems for animals, water pumps or lamps

- CSP

- The lifecycle of PV panels (i.e. material extraction, production and recycling phases)

Outcomes

Outcomes

- All outcomes related to the studied population (e.g. mortality, diversity, abundance, growth, distribution, physiology, reproduction, mobility, morphology, behaviour, habitat alteration, habitat connectivity, etc.)

- All abiotic parameters related to the studied natural/semi-natural habitat or ecosystem (e.g. humidity, temperature, radiation)

Comparators

Comparators

- Studies comparing a population exposed to a PV installation and a population left unexposed and/or studies comparing a population before and after the construction of a PV installation—Before-After temporal comparator and/or Control-Exposure spatial comparator (e.g. BACE, BAE, CE)

- Studies comparing different types of PV installations (e.g. technology, size, inter-row, orientation, angle)

- Studies comparing different management practices within USSE facilities (e.g. mowing, grazing, rehabilitation)

- Studies comparing different contexts such as different climatic conditions or different ecosystems surrounding USSE facilities

- Studies without any comparator

Languages

 

- Articles written in English or French

 

Document types

Document types

- Journal article, book chapter, technical report, PhD or MSc theses

- Conference objects (e.g. meeting abstracts, slides, posters)

Document contents

Document contents

- Primary research articles, reviews, meta-analyses, modelling studies without experimental data

- LCA modelling studies

  1. First, for title screening, citations were only checked for population–exposure–outcome criteria. Then, complete population–exposure–comparator–outcome criteria as well as language, document type and content criteria were used for full-text screening
  2. PV Photovoltaic and solar thermal; USSE Utility-Scale Solar Energy; CSP Concentrated Solar Power; LCA Life Cycle Assessment