An ecological halo surrounding a large offshore artificial reef: Sediments, infauna, and fish foraging

Ecological Role of an Offshore Industry Artificial Structure

“…It is not clear how far the increased abundance of monkfish reached as the surveys were limited by the tether length of the ROVs launched from the drilling rigs. However, this may represent an example of the "ecological halo effect" in which artificial reefs support increased abundance and diversity over a considerably larger area than the reef itself (Reeds et al, 2018). There may also be a refuge effect because the areas around the drilling activity are protected from fishing by vessel exclusion zones.…”

Some Old Movies Become Classics – A Case Study Determining the Scientific Value of ROV Inspection Footage on a Platform on Australia’s North West Shelf

“…On the NWS for example, mid-shelf to deeper water bottoms are characterized by sandy sediments and muds, often with low biodiversity (McLoughlin and Young, 1985;Lyne et al, 2006). As artificial reefs can create an 'ecological halo' effect up to 15 times the size of the actual structure (Reeds et al, 2018), the biodiversity associated with oil structures such as the GWA platform is likely to remain very high compared to the surrounding benthos, a virtual 'biological oasis' independent of changes in community composition over time. Thus, isolated from the nearest reefs and coastal areas, the sessile invertebrate community we observed on GWA most likely reflects a unique assemblage compared to the diversity of the surrounding marine ecosystem.…”

Distance-Based Sampling Methods for Assessing the Ecological Effects of Offshore Wind Farms: Synthesis and Application to Fisheries Resource Studies

“…Impact assessment in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems has long benefited from distance-based methods (e.g., Whittaker, 1967;Ellis and Schneider, 1997;Buckland et al, 2015). In coastal marine ecosystems, distance-based methods have demonstrated gradients around artificial reefs (e.g., Davis et al, 1982;Reeds et al, 2018), oil and gas platforms (Ellis and Schneider, 1997), and area closures (Harmelin-Vivien et al, 2008) in the distribution, abundance, and diversity of marine organisms. As with OWF investigations, these studies often collect data only after the intervention, focusing primarily on post-intervention spatial variation with less attention paid to pre vs. post intervention changes.…”