Generalized changes of benthic communities after construction of wind farms in the southern North Sea

Coolen, Joop W.P.; Vanaverbeke, Jan; Dannheim, Jennifer; Garcia, Cécile; Birchenough, Silvana N.R.; Krone, Roland; Beermann, Jan

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.115173

Cited by 16 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Note that soft sediment data was only available in two wind farms (C-Power and Princes Amalia). For more information on the sampling method, we refer to Coolen et al , Organisms were identified to the species level. Sample coordinates, sample date, sample type (hard substrate or soft sediment), and sample size were registered for each OWF/research platform (Table ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Declines in marine biodiversity driven by human activities have been documented on a global scale. , The environmental impact assessment framework has been used to discuss regulatory needs to prevent marine biodiversity loss from OWFs. ,, Other studies have theoretically analyzed how OWE-relevant impacts can be assessed, including habitat change, ,,− electromagnetic fields, ,,− , noise, ,,− , artificial reefs, ,, and fishery avoidance. ,, However, quantitative assessments (and monitoring) of the impact of OWE development on marine life have been limited to only a few areas (the southern North Sea, Dutch North Sea, − Belgian part of the North Sea, and the UK , ) and specific impacts (artificial reefs, , bottom-trawling avoidance, and noise). To better quantify the impacts on marine biodiversity, a more comprehensive assessment method is required, which takes into account the long-term cumulative effects of different stressors on marine communities instead of individual species …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Offshore Wind Energy and Marine Biodiversity in the North Sea: Life Cycle Impact Assessment for Benthic Communities

Coolen

Scherer

et al. 2023

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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Large-scale offshore wind energy developments represent a major player in the energy transition but are likely to have (negative or positive) impacts on marine biodiversity. Wind turbine foundations and sour protection often replace soft sediment with hard substrates, creating artificial reefs for sessile dwellers. Offshore wind farm (OWF) furthermore leads to a decrease in (and even a cessation of) bottom trawling, as this activity is prohibited in many OWFs. The long-term cumulative impacts of these changes on marine biodiversity remain largely unknown. This study integrates such impacts into characterization factors for life cycle assessment based on the North Sea and illustrates its application. Our results suggest that there are no net adverse impacts during OWF operation on benthic communities inhabiting the original sand bottom within OWFs. Artificial reefs could lead to a doubling of species richness and a two-order-of-magnitude increase of species abundance. Seabed occupation will also incur in minor biodiversity losses in the soft sediment. Our results were not conclusive concerning the trawling avoidance benefits. The developed characterization factors quantifying biodiversity-related impacts from OWF operation provide a stepping stone toward a better representation of biodiversity in life cycle assessment.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Offshore Wind Energy and Marine Biodiversity in the North Sea: Life Cycle Impact Assessment for Benthic Communities

Coolen

Scherer

et al. 2023

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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“…Additionally, they can support decision making for future offshore windfarm projects in terms of site selection. The data can be used in meta-analyses to identify common and site-specific environmental effects of offshore windfarms [1] . An increasing number of offshore windfarms are currently being constructed in coastal and offshore waters around the world.…”

Section: Value Of the Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Data on benthic species assemblages and seafloor sediment characteristics in an offshore windfarm in the southeastern North Sea

2023

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“…Early colonisers occupy most of the available habitats and might prevent other species from establishing on the newly introduced structures by predating on their larvae, a process named inhibitory response (Coolen et al, 2022). On the contrary, other early colonisers might facilitate the attachment of other fouling species (see below).…”

Section: A B Cmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fouling community composition on a pilot floating solar-energy installation in the coastal Dutch North Sea

Mavraki,

Bos,

Vlaswinkel

et al. 2023

Front. Mar. Sci.

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The increasing need for renewable energy has led to the transition of renewable energy devices to the marine environment. Currently, mainly offshore wind farms have been completely developed and are operational in the North Sea. The solar energy sector is also rapidly evolving and floating photovoltaics are continuously created and deployed. In this study, we investigated the colonisation patterns and community changes with time of fouling fauna on the first floating photovoltaics in the coastal Dutch North Sea. Samples were collected by divers from the underwater side of 4 floaters, coated with different anti-fouling techniques (Intersleek, GreenPowerNano PPDura, Finsulate and Pato) at two different moments, shortly after the deployment of the floaters and approximately a year later. In total, 72 fouling taxa were identified on the floaters, from which ca. 11% are known to be non-indigenous species for the region. The anti-fouling coating Intersleek seemed to work the most efficiently against fouling colonisation, since the fouling community sampled from this floater contained the least taxa. However, the small number of samples collected from the different floaters did not allow for a direct comparison between the anti-fouling coatings. The communities evolved with time, with young communities accommodating a larger number of individuals and old communities having less individuals but higher biomass, indicating that the organisms become bigger in size and compete for the available space. Nevertheless, the communities had not reached a stable climax yet, while this process might take multiple years due to the dynamic environment in which floating photovoltaics are deployed. Monitoring the fouling communities occurring on floating photovoltaics in the North Sea for a long-term is necessary to understand the effects of these new man-made structures on the marine environment, especially since floating photovoltaics are moving to offshore locations and will be possibly co-located with offshore wind farms in the future.

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Generalized changes of benthic communities after construction of wind farms in the southern North Sea

Cited by 16 publications

References 37 publications

Offshore Wind Energy and Marine Biodiversity in the North Sea: Life Cycle Impact Assessment for Benthic Communities

Offshore Wind Energy and Marine Biodiversity in the North Sea: Life Cycle Impact Assessment for Benthic Communities

Data on benthic species assemblages and seafloor sediment characteristics in an offshore windfarm in the southeastern North Sea

Fouling community composition on a pilot floating solar-energy installation in the coastal Dutch North Sea

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