The introduction of artificial hard substrates in an area dominated by a sandy seabed increases habitat available to epifouling organisms. To investigate this, samples were taken on old offshore oil and gas platforms, and data were compared with data of a young wind farm and a natural reef. Depth, sampling date, abundance of Mytilus edulis, Psammechinus miliaris, Metridium dianthus, and the presence of Tubulariidae and substrate (rock or steel) all correlated with species richness. Multivariate analysis showed a large overlap in communities on steel and rock and between the wind farm and platforms. The community changed over a gradient from deep rocks to shallow steel substrate, but no strong community differentiation was observed. Deep steel was more similar to natural rocks than shallow steel. When an artificial reef is intended to be colonized by communities similar to those on a natural reef, its structure should resemble a natural reef as much as possible.
Steel slag is being used worldwide for a variety of applications, among which underwater dyke reinforcement. In this study the leaching and bioaccumulation of 18 inorganic compounds from Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) steel slag, was monitored in marine experimental ecosystems (mesocosms) for 12 weeks. Triplicated mesocosms were installed at two refreshment rates, one reflecting the situation in the Oosterschelde estuary where BOF steel slag was applied, the other at a 35 times lower rate. Vanadium in both water and biota turned out to be the best tracer for the presence of BOF steel slag in the mesocosms. The mesocosm data helped to interpret the results This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Accepted Articleof a 4 year field sampling program in the Oosterschelde estuary where no elevated levels of vanadium in water or biota were found near locations where steel slag was applied. Also no ecological impact could be established in the field, which was in line with the observations in the mesocosms. This study shows the added value of a tailor made mesocosm study for realistic risk assessment, and provides support for applying this tool as a basis for designing efficient field monitoring programs.
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