Epifauna dynamics at an offshore foundation – Implications of future wind power farming in the North Sea

Krone, Roland; Gutow, Lars; Joschko, Tanja; Schröder, Alexander

doi:10.1016/j.marenvres.2012.12.004

Cited by 119 publications

(111 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…But also the acceptance of artificial hard substrate as habitats for threatened and endangered species has been documented (García-Gómez et al, 2010;Perkol-Finkel et al, 2012). Likewise, the influence of such substrates on the surrounding sediment has been reported (Krone et al, 2013), and it has been shown that artificial structures are usually associated with high benthic diversity (Bustamante et al, 2007). In the present study we investigated the benthic fauna on both groynes and in the sediment in a typical Wadden Sea estuary, where natural geologically derived hard substrate is absent.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…These estimates are based only on the sublittoral abundance of M. edulis from our study taking into account only values at depths of 2e3 m below LAT. Much higher mussel abundances are usually present close to the surface (Krone et al, 2013), so that our values are conservative, and much higher values are to be expected when the entire mussel population is taken into account.…”

Section: Species Compositionmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…The omnipresence of groynes and other artificial structures and habitats in estuaries has not only dramatically changed their morphology and contributed to the loss of natural habitats (Browne and Chapman, 2011;Perkol-Finkel et al, 2012), but has also created many new habitats for benthic and pelagic (Krone et al, 2013;Harasti et al, 2010) species. Previous experimental studies have investigated the invasibility of the artificial materials by nonindigenous invertebrates (Dafforn et al, 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Coen et al, 2007;Hatcher et al, 1994;Newell et al, 2005) by consuming seston from the water column and depositing feces and pseudofeces on the sediment surface, thus causing an organic enrichment of the surrounding sediments Krone et al, 2013) especially by increasing the total dissolved nitrogen (Hatcher et al, 1994). These changes in sediment chemistry can affect benthic communities by increasing or decreasing individual species abundances (Dauer et al, 2000) or by changing entire species compositions (Kaspar et al, 1985).…”

Section: Tablementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Andersson et al, 2010;Guerra-García et al, 2004;Marzinelli et al, 2009). The presence of hard-bottom fauna on artificial substrates can influence the established community composition on adjacent soft substrates (Davis et al, 1982;Grant et al, 1995;Krone et al, 2013;Seitz et al, 2006). When nonindigenous species (NIS) occur on artificial structures (Ruiz et al, 2009;Glasby et al, 2007;Tyrrell and Byers, 2007;Wasson et al, 2005) these substrates may serve as stepping stones for invasive alien species (Apte et al, 2000;Wilhelmsson and Malm, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Artificial structures in sediment-dominated estuaries and their possible influences on the ecosystem

Wetzel

Scholle

Teschke

2014

Marine Environmental Research

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a b s t r a c tArtificial substrates are omnipresent today in most estuaries mostly in form of massive rip-rap used for groynes and jetties. In the Weser estuary, Germany, 60% of the shoreline is covered with such artificial substrates while, natural rocky substrate is lacking, as in all Wadden Sea estuaries. This large quantity of artificial substrates may be colonized by a benthic hard-substrate community which differs from the local natural soft-substrate assemblage. In this study we examined species compositions, abundances, biomass, and numbers of species of subtidal benthic communities on groynes and in the natural habitat, the sediment, along the salinity gradient of the Weser estuary. Species composition changed on both substrates significantly with salinity and was also significantly different between the substrates. In a comparison with the sediment, the groynes did not provide any benefit for non-indigenous nor for endangered species in terms of abundance, biomass, and number of species, but represent habitats with higher total abundances and biomass; though some non-indigenous species even occurred exclusively on groynes. In particular, groynes supported filter-feeding organisms which play an important role by linking benthic and pelagic food webs. The dominance of the suspension feeders affects crucial estuarine ecosystem services and may have important implications for the estuarine management by altering the estuarine ecological quality status. Hence, artificial substrates should be considered in future conservation planning and in ecological quality monitoring of the benthic fauna according to the European Water Framework Directive.

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