Organic matter assimilation by hard substrate fauna in an offshore wind farm area: A pulse-chase study

Abstract

The installation of offshore wind farms (OWFs) adds artificial hard substrates into naturally soft-bottom areas, changing the local biodiversity. The turbine foundations are rapidly colonized by colonizing organisms, mainly consisting of suspension feeders that can potentially reduce the local primary producer standing stock. In this study, we estimated the amount of organic matter processed by colonizing assemblages of OWFs. We conducted a laboratory pulse-chase experiment, by offering 13C-labelled fragmented microalgae to PVC panels colonized by OWF colonizing fauna. The blue mussel Mytilus edulis showed the highest biomass-specific carbon assimilation, while the high densities of the amphipod Jassa herdmani resulted in the highest total carbon assimilation. By upscaling our results to the total number of the installed offshore wind turbines in the Belgian part of the North Sea, we estimate that these species can reduce the local primary producer standing stock in the area by ca. 1.3%. Mytilus edulis and J. herdmani communities colonizing offshore wind turbine foundations significantly increase carbon assimilation compared to natural soft sediment macrofauna inhabiting the same surface area (i.e. footprint of the turbines).