Abstract
Within the next few decades, wind farms with an extension of many square kilometres probably will be built in Swedish coastal waters. These installations may affect the ecological communities in various ways, e.g.; by the already known reef-effect, by changing the population structure of key predators such as fish and birds and thereby cause trophic cascades down into the benthic community or by causing changes in the hydrology that may benefit some species, mainly soft bottom species, while others may be disadvantaged. How the wind farms will affect the ecological communities depends probably very much on the initial conditions. During the period 2005-2009 a study was carried out with the aim to investigate the benthic community structure on hard bottoms, before and after larger wind farms have been constructed. The areas explored were Skottarevet in Kattegat, Lillgrund in Oeresund, Utgrunden II in southern Kalmar Strait, Kaarehamn off north-eastern Oeland and Klasaadern off south-western Gotland. For legal and economic reasons, only one farm, Lillgrund was constructed during the project period. Significant differences were found at both species and functional level. The largest divergence was found between the Kattegat and the Baltic Sea with large differences in species composition and in part
More>>
Malm, Torleif;
[1]
Engkvist, Roland
[2]
- Stockholms Universitet, Stockholms marina forskningscentrum (Sweden)
- Linneuniversitetet, Institutionen foer Naturvetenskap, Vaexjoe (Sweden)
Citation Formats
Malm, Torleif, and Engkvist, Roland.
Benthic processes on and around artificial structures in Swedish coastal waters; Bentiska processer paa och runt artificiella strukturer i Sveriges kustvatten.
Sweden: N. p.,
2011.
Web.
Malm, Torleif, & Engkvist, Roland.
Benthic processes on and around artificial structures in Swedish coastal waters; Bentiska processer paa och runt artificiella strukturer i Sveriges kustvatten.
Sweden.
Malm, Torleif, and Engkvist, Roland.
2011.
"Benthic processes on and around artificial structures in Swedish coastal waters; Bentiska processer paa och runt artificiella strukturer i Sveriges kustvatten."
Sweden.
@misc{etde_1011590,
title = {Benthic processes on and around artificial structures in Swedish coastal waters; Bentiska processer paa och runt artificiella strukturer i Sveriges kustvatten}
author = {Malm, Torleif, and Engkvist, Roland}
abstractNote = {Within the next few decades, wind farms with an extension of many square kilometres probably will be built in Swedish coastal waters. These installations may affect the ecological communities in various ways, e.g.; by the already known reef-effect, by changing the population structure of key predators such as fish and birds and thereby cause trophic cascades down into the benthic community or by causing changes in the hydrology that may benefit some species, mainly soft bottom species, while others may be disadvantaged. How the wind farms will affect the ecological communities depends probably very much on the initial conditions. During the period 2005-2009 a study was carried out with the aim to investigate the benthic community structure on hard bottoms, before and after larger wind farms have been constructed. The areas explored were Skottarevet in Kattegat, Lillgrund in Oeresund, Utgrunden II in southern Kalmar Strait, Kaarehamn off north-eastern Oeland and Klasaadern off south-western Gotland. For legal and economic reasons, only one farm, Lillgrund was constructed during the project period. Significant differences were found at both species and functional level. The largest divergence was found between the Kattegat and the Baltic Sea with large differences in species composition and in part also with other functional groups. Furthermore, between the Baltic Sea sites, significant differences were also found. The natural communities in the two straits had significantly higher biomass of blue mussels (M. edulis) per square meter compared with the open areas at Gotland and Oeland. In addition,the algal flora differed significantly. Filamentous brown algae favoured by eutrophication dominated the substrate in the straits while the bottoms along the open coastlines were covered with perennial red algae. The wind farm at Lillgrund affected the benthic communities moderately but significant. Mussels and barnacles colonized the surface of the towers and the granite stones in the scour protection quickly. The artificial and natural substrates had a similar community structure after two years. In contrast it seems like the bottom has been affected by the farm throughout the area. Compared with previous years, the natural substrates in 2009 had a larger biomass of mussels and barnacles and a lower biomass of filamentous algae. The differences, however, were small. The conclusion of this study is that wind power farms may potentially cause ecological effects in the benthic communities but as our study lack geographical and temporal extension, this conclusion is weak. As the abiotic conditions around our coasts shift, it is impossible to draw firm conclusions from one site. It is also difficult to draw conclusions from the short period after the construction of the farm. Meteorological and oceanographic processes not related to the wind farm may have contributed to the result}
place = {Sweden}
year = {2011}
month = {Mar}
}
title = {Benthic processes on and around artificial structures in Swedish coastal waters; Bentiska processer paa och runt artificiella strukturer i Sveriges kustvatten}
author = {Malm, Torleif, and Engkvist, Roland}
abstractNote = {Within the next few decades, wind farms with an extension of many square kilometres probably will be built in Swedish coastal waters. These installations may affect the ecological communities in various ways, e.g.; by the already known reef-effect, by changing the population structure of key predators such as fish and birds and thereby cause trophic cascades down into the benthic community or by causing changes in the hydrology that may benefit some species, mainly soft bottom species, while others may be disadvantaged. How the wind farms will affect the ecological communities depends probably very much on the initial conditions. During the period 2005-2009 a study was carried out with the aim to investigate the benthic community structure on hard bottoms, before and after larger wind farms have been constructed. The areas explored were Skottarevet in Kattegat, Lillgrund in Oeresund, Utgrunden II in southern Kalmar Strait, Kaarehamn off north-eastern Oeland and Klasaadern off south-western Gotland. For legal and economic reasons, only one farm, Lillgrund was constructed during the project period. Significant differences were found at both species and functional level. The largest divergence was found between the Kattegat and the Baltic Sea with large differences in species composition and in part also with other functional groups. Furthermore, between the Baltic Sea sites, significant differences were also found. The natural communities in the two straits had significantly higher biomass of blue mussels (M. edulis) per square meter compared with the open areas at Gotland and Oeland. In addition,the algal flora differed significantly. Filamentous brown algae favoured by eutrophication dominated the substrate in the straits while the bottoms along the open coastlines were covered with perennial red algae. The wind farm at Lillgrund affected the benthic communities moderately but significant. Mussels and barnacles colonized the surface of the towers and the granite stones in the scour protection quickly. The artificial and natural substrates had a similar community structure after two years. In contrast it seems like the bottom has been affected by the farm throughout the area. Compared with previous years, the natural substrates in 2009 had a larger biomass of mussels and barnacles and a lower biomass of filamentous algae. The differences, however, were small. The conclusion of this study is that wind power farms may potentially cause ecological effects in the benthic communities but as our study lack geographical and temporal extension, this conclusion is weak. As the abiotic conditions around our coasts shift, it is impossible to draw firm conclusions from one site. It is also difficult to draw conclusions from the short period after the construction of the farm. Meteorological and oceanographic processes not related to the wind farm may have contributed to the result}
place = {Sweden}
year = {2011}
month = {Mar}
}