Life on every stone: Characterizing benthic communities from scour protection layers of offshore wind farms in the southern North Sea

IF 2.1 4区 地球科学 Q2 MARINE & FRESHWATER BIOLOGY Journal of Sea Research Pub Date : 2024-07-27 DOI:10.1016/j.seares.2024.102522
Mirta Zupan , Joop Coolen , Ninon Mavraki , Steven Degraer , Tom Moens , Francis Kerckhof , Lucia Lopez Lopez , Jan Vanaverbeke
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Abstract

The scour protection layer (SPL) is a layer of large stones placed around man-made structures in the marine environment, preventing sediment scouring while also providing new hard substrate and potentially increasing the structural complexity of the original environment. This fosters development of diverse benthic communities, supporting high abundance of organisms. Future SPLs are therefore a potential tool for the ecological enhancement of degrading marine habitats following the principles of nature-inclusive design. Yet, factors that shape the benthic communities on SPLs are poorly understood. Here, we analysed existing data from SPLs from offshore wind farms and a gas platform in the southern North Sea to determine how SPL characteristics affect the biofouling community structure. We combined this analysis with an in-situ experiment testing for the effects of habitat complexity on SPL communities. Our results demonstrate that abundant and diverse communities are present on all SPLs. On a regional scale, communities are mainly affected by depth and location. Increasing habitat complexity has significant and positive effects on species richness yet was non-significant for biomass and abundance of the biofouling community. If applied thoughtfully, nature-inclusive design of the SPL habitat, including manipulation of the physical complexity of the structure, can effectively promote biodiversity.

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每块石头上都有生命:北海南部近海风电场冲刷保护层底栖生物群落的特征
冲刷保护层(SPL)是放置在海洋环境中人造结构周围的一层大石头,在防止沉积物冲刷的同时还提供了新的坚硬基质,并有可能增加原有环境的结构复杂性。这将促进底栖生物群落的多样化发展,支持生物的大量繁殖。因此,根据自然包容性设计原则,未来的 SPL 是改善退化海洋生境生态的潜在工具。然而,人们对塑造 SPL 底栖生物群落的因素了解甚少。在此,我们分析了北海南部海上风电场和天然气平台 SPL 的现有数据,以确定 SPL 特征如何影响生物污损群落结构。我们将这一分析与现场实验相结合,测试栖息地复杂性对 SPL 群落的影响。结果表明,所有 SPL 上都存在丰富多样的群落。在区域范围内,群落主要受深度和位置的影响。栖息地复杂度的增加对物种丰富度具有显著的积极影响,但对生物污损群落的生物量和丰度却没有显著影响。如果考虑周全,对 SPL 生境进行自然包容性设计,包括控制结构的物理复杂性,可有效促进生物多样性。
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来源期刊
Journal of Sea Research
Journal of Sea Research 地学-海洋学
CiteScore
3.20
自引率
5.00%
发文量
86
审稿时长
6-12 weeks
期刊介绍: The Journal of Sea Research is an international and multidisciplinary periodical on marine research, with an emphasis on the functioning of marine ecosystems in coastal and shelf seas, including intertidal, estuarine and brackish environments. As several subdisciplines add to this aim, manuscripts are welcome from the fields of marine biology, marine chemistry, marine sedimentology and physical oceanography, provided they add to the understanding of ecosystem processes.
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