Biodiversity Information of benthic Species at ARtificial structures – BISAR

Worldwide reduction of carbon emissions is needed to help reduce the effects of climate change. Twenty-seven member states of the European Union have committed to reduce emissions by 55% of 1990 levels by 20301. To achieve this, an unprecedented installation of offshore marine renewable energy devices (wind, wave, tidal, solar) and cable networks is required2. To date, offshore wind energy is the largest marine renewable energy provider, currently producing globally 35 GW with an increase to 70 GW expected by 20253 and a potential increase worldwide to 1000 GW expected by 20504. Europe has the majority of offshore wind farms (OWFs) with a capacity of 28 GW5, which corresponds to 5,795 grid-connected wind turbines across 123 OWFs and 12 countries5. Marine biodiversity and their associated ecosystems are increasingly being affected by anthropogenic pressures, such as the growing number of artificial structures6,7, eutrophication, fisheries and climate change8–10. The introduction of man-made structures can potentially have both positive and negative effects on marine ecosystems11– 14. Soft-bottom communities are altered close to artificial structures15–17, while a significant amount of marine growth colonises the artificial hard structures18,19. To assess the effects of man-made structures on the benthic community, most environmental impact assessment data collection studies have been conducted over small spatial and temporal scales20 such as single turbines or single OWFs and associated infrastructure15,21,22. Some countries have coordinated programmes to standardise data collection methods on soft sediments (e.g., Germany23, Belgium24, the Baltic Sea25), and there are existing methods to study macrofauna on natural hard substrates such as rocky bottoms26. However, there are no internationally agreed methods, metrics or databases for the data collection, which is critical for understanding the effects of artificial structures on marine ecosystems. Data are disparate owing to differences in data diversity, regarding (i) sampling devices and methods, (ii) sample analysis (e.g., variables, taxonomic resolution), (iii) data storage and management, as well as (iv) continuously changing taxonomy. This results in a lack of consistent data with regards to offshore artificial structures and benthos. Thus, investigation of large-scale benthic effects requires merging data from different sources, which is challenging (time consuming, costly, difficult) or even not possible19. Taken together, the available data are underutilised. A few attempts have been made to collect and analyse biodiversity data from different substrates (wind turbines, oil and gas platforms, surrounding soft sediments and rocky reefs) in a single region19,27,28. Ecosystem-based management requires a deep understanding of the effects of artificial structures over large spatial and temporal scales that exceed budgets, timeframes and jurisdictional borders. Data sharing through the creation of an integrated database can provide multiple benefits for science, industry, and policy. It could be used for large-scale research studies examining the aforementioned effects and facilitate ecosystem-based management. Furthermore, the creation of a centralised dataset could enable answering scientific questions regarding stepping stone effects beyond the scale of individual OWFs, platforms or countries29,30. Industry could exploit this dataset for environment-friendly planning, predicting effects of new activities at offshore locations. Finally, sharing such data is crucial in developing fact-based scientific advice for decommissioning decisions for various stakeholders. This paper presents the first data collection ‘Biodiversity Information of benthic Species at ARtificial structures’ (BISAR). BISAR contains data on benthic macrofauna collected in environmental impact studies, scientific projects and species inventories conducted at 17 artificial offshore structures in the North Sea between 2003 and 2019. The structures include OWFs, oil and gas platforms, a research platform and a geogenic reef to compare natural and artificial reef communities. BISAR includes data from soft and hard substrate studies (34 artificial structures), allowing comparisons of changes in both habitat types. This data collection currently contains data from a total of 3864 samples with 890 taxa. BISAR is the first data product containing harmonised and quality-checked international data on benthos from substrates influenced by artificial structures in the North Sea. Various stakeholders (e.g., industry, public authorities, research) will profit from the BISAR data collection as the greatest challenge in an era of blue growth is to get access to data from various sources

EN, Open Access

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