Do wind farms favour introduced hard substrata species?
Kerckhof, F.; De Mesel, I.; Degraer, S. (2016). Do wind farms favour introduced hard substrata species?, in: Degraer, S. et al. (Ed.) Environmental impacts of offshore wind farms in the Belgian part of the North Sea: Environmental impact monitoring reloaded. pp. 61-75
In: Degraer, S. et al. (Ed.) (2016). Environmental impacts of offshore wind farms in the Belgian part of the North Sea: Environmental impact monitoring reloaded. Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, OD Natural Environment, Marine Ecology and Management Section: Brussels. ISBN 978-90-8264-120-2. ix, 287 pp., more
Offshore wind farms, like other artificial structures in the marine environment, are hypothesised to favour introduced species and as such pose a threat to the native fauna. However, this has so far never been investigated for offshore wind farms. In this study, we investigated introduced species on Belgian offshore wind farms with particular interest in (1) the position of introduced species on offshore wind farms in relation to other hard substrata in the Belgian part of the North Sea (BPNS), (2) the distribution of introduced species in the subtidal versus intertidal zone and (3) the potential of offshore wind farms for future flourishment of the introduced species. Therefore we compared different hard substratum communities, both natural and man-made, on the relative importance of introduced species in the subtidal and intertidal communities.
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