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Publications (38)
Offshore wind farms (OWFs) and their associated cables, foundations and scour protection are often constructed in soft sediment environments. This introduction of hard substrate has been shown to have similar effects as artificial reefs by providing food resources and offering increased habitat complexity, thereby aggregating fish around the turbin...
The biodiversity of marine and coastal habitats is experiencing unprecedented change. While there are well-known drivers of these changes, such as overexploitation, climate change and pollution, there are also relatively unknown emerging issues that are poorly understood or recognized that have potentially positive or negative impacts on marine and...
We investigated how the distribution of plaice Pleuronectes platessa, a typical soft-sediment fish species, has been affected by the introduction of hard substrate [turbines and scour protection layer (SPL)] at both turbine and wind farm scale in two Belgian offshore wind farms (OWFs). Diving transects (40 m) at 11 monopiles revealed four times hig...
The establishment of artificial hard substrates (i.e. offshore wind farms and oil and gas platforms) on marine soft sediments increases the available habitat for invertebrate communities that would otherwise be restricted to natural hard bottoms. Suspension feeding invertebrates clear a significant amount of particles from the water column and rele...
The European Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of electricity produced from renewable energy sources in the internal electricity market, imposes a target figure for the contribution of the production of electricity from renewable energy sources upon each Member State. On 31 December 2019, Belgium submitted a National Energy and Climate Plan to...
This report is one outcome from a broader effort to review the state of knowledge regarding offshore wind energy development's effects on wildlife and identify short-term research priorities to improve our understanding of cumulative biological impacts as the offshore wind industry develops in the eastern United States. This effort, titled State of...
Offshore wind farms (OWFs) are an important source of renewable energy accounting for 2.3% of the European Union's electricity demand. Yet their impact on the environment needs to be assessed. Here, we couple a hydrodynamic (including tides and waves) and sediment transport model with a description of the organic carbon and mineral particle dynamic...
p>Changes to fisheries that result from offshore wind farm (OWF) installations may be considered good or bad depending on various stakeholders’ perspectives. OWFs can act as artificial reefs that may benefit secondary fish production, but such effects may also have ecological consequences. The fisheries exclusion effect that turns some OWFs into no...
The Block Island Wind Farm (BIWF), situated offshore of Block Island, Rhode Island, is the first commercial offshore wind farm (OWF) in the United States. We briefly review pre-siting studies, which provide contextual information about the benthic habitats and fish in the Block Island Sound area before the BIWF jacket foundations were installed in...
Offshore wind farms (OWFs) are proliferating globally. The submerged parts of their structures act as artificial reefs, providing new habitats and likely affecting fisheries resources. While acknowledging that the footprints of these structures may result in loss of habitat, usually soft sediment, we focus on how the artificial reefs established by...
The installation of offshore wind farms (OWFs) adds artificial hard substrates into naturally soft-bottom areas, changing the local biodiversity. The turbine foundations are rapidly colonized by colonizing organisms, mainly consisting of suspension feeders that can potentially reduce the local primary producer standing stock. In this study, we esti...
1 There is concern across the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) region that a consideration of vulnerable components and the wider support mechanisms underpinning benthic marine ecosystems may be lacking from the process of marine protected area (MPA) designation, management and monitoring.
2 In this study, MPAs across si...
The blue growth agenda has spurred an accelerating exploitation and continued development of the coastal and marine environment. This is also driven by the increasing need to generate renewable energy. In most cases, this has resulted in a large number of man-made structures (MMSs) across several soft sediment environments. The nature of these stru...
Bioturbation is one of the key mediators of biogeochemical processes in benthic habitats that can have a high contribution to seafloor functioning and benthic pelagic coupling in coastal waters. Previous studies on bio-turbation were limited to point locations and extrapolations in single regions, but have not accounted for regional differences und...
The proliferation of offshore wind energy installations causes a local change in biodiversity because these structures become heavily colonised by large quantities of fouling fauna, attract large mobile crustaceans and fish, and alter the macrofaunal communities in the soft sediments surrounding the wind turbines. Here, we analysed the stable isoto...
Bats undertaking seasonal migration between summer roosts and wintering areas can cross large areas of open sea. Given the known impact of onshore wind turbines on bats, concerns were raised on whether offshore wind farms pose risks to bats. Better comprehension of the phenology and associated weather conditions of offshore bat migration will provi...
The expected increase of maritime activities in the North Sea and the growing awareness of its natural environmental value require enhanced science-based environmental advice for more efficient and effective marine management. The North Sea Open Science Conference organised by the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and the Belgian Biodiver...
As decommissioning of oil and gas (O&G) installations intensifies in the North Sea, and worldwide, debate rages regarding the fate of these novel habitats and their associated biota-a debate that has important implications for future decommissioning of offshore wind farms (OWFs). Calls to relax complete removal requirements in some circumstances an...
Benthic habitat condition assessments are a requirement under various environmental directives. The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), for example, challenges member states in a European sea region to perform comparable assessments of good environmental status and improve coherence of their monitoring programmes by 2020. Currently, North S...
As the EU's commitment to renewable energy is projected to grow to 20% of energy generation by 2020, the use of marine renewable energy from wind, wave and tidal resources is increasing. This literature review (233 studies) (i) summarizes knowledge on how marine renewable energy devices affect benthic environments, (ii) explains how these effects c...
This review of published and unpublished information demonstrates that offshore wind
farms (OWFs) have major effects on the benthos; that is, the seabed flora and fauna. By
adding artificial hard substrata to the marine ecosystem, OWFs create new habitat for
colonising benthic species, allowing attachment and attraction of hard-substratum species,...
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, Psammec...
Motivation: The BioTIME database contains raw data on species identities and abundances in ecological assemblages through time. These data enable users to calculate temporal trends in biodiversity within and amongst assemblages using a broad range of metrics. BioTIME is being developed as a community-led open-source database of biodiversity time se...
Motivation: The BioTIME database contains raw data on species identities and abundances in ecological assemblages through time. These data enable users to calculate temporal trends in biodiversity within and amongst assemblages using a broad range of metrics. BioTIME is being developed as a community-led open-source database of biodiversity time se...
Motivation: The BioTIME database contains raw data on species identities and abundances in ecological assemblages through time. These data enable users to calculate temporal trends in biodiversity within and amongst assemblages using a broad range of metrics. BioTIME is being developed as a community led open-source database of biodiversity time se...
The RECON project was carried out from October 2015 till September 2017 and was part of the INSITE programme wherein the INfluence of man-made Structures In the Ecosystem is being investigated. The project “RECON: Reef effects of structures in the North Sea, islands or connections?” was initiated to investigate and model species patterns and inter-...
Motivation: The BioTIME database contains raw data on species identities and abundances in ecological assemblages through time. These data enable users to calculate temporal trends in biodiversity within and amongst assemblages using a broad range of metrics. BioTIME is being developed as a community-led open-source database of biodiversity time se...
The number of offshore wind farms (OWFs) is increasing rapidly, leading to questions about the cumulative environmental impact of such farms. The major impacts are caused by the noise produced in the building phase, the new hard substratum, the moving rotor blades, possible underwater noise in the production phase and the exclusion of fisheries. Da...
The European Academy of Wind Energy (eawe), representing universities and institutes with a significant wind energy programme in 14 countries, has discussed the long-term research challenges in wind energy. In contrast to research agendas addressing short- to medium-term research activities, this eawe document takes a longer-term perspective, addre...
Projects
Project (1)
ICES Benthos Ecology Working Group (BEWG) focuses primarily on long-term series and climate change, benthic indicators and EU directives, and species distribution modelling.
BEWG brings together a group of ecologists with expertise covering areas from macro to meio-benthos. The work targets the field of applied benthic ecology. The main working themes are aimed at covering: benthic long-term series and climate change, benthic indicators, species distribution modelling, the link between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, and the role of benthos within marine protected areas (MPAs). Several case studies are ongoing to tackle some of these research-driven questions. The group also considers emerging issues associated to the field of benthic ecology.
