Settlement success of European flat oyster (Ostrea edulis) on different types of hard substrate to support reef development in offshore wind farms

The native European flat oyster (Ostrea edulis) is an ecosystem engineer providing important ecosystem services, but became nearly extinct from the North Sea due to diseases and overfishing. There's a growing interest to restore these oyster reefs for their valuable contribution in re-establishing a rich ecosystem in the North Sea. In order...

Guardians of the seabed: Nature-inclusive design of scour protection in offshore wind farms enhances benthic diversity

In the past, a large part of the seabed of the southern North Sea was covered by hard substrates, including oyster beds, coarse peat banks, and glacial erratics. Human activities, particularly bottom trawl fisheries, led to the disappearance of most of these hard substrates, resulting in the loss of its associated diverse benthic life as well...

Defining operational objectives for nature-inclusive marine infrastructure to achieve system-scale impact

The marine environment faces continuous anthropogenic pressures, including infrastructural developments at a global scale. Integration of nature-inclusive measures in the design of infrastructural development is increasingly encouraged, but a lack of coordination results in fragmentation of project-based measures, failing to meet the desired...

Five golden principles to advance marine reef restoration by linking science and industry

Marine reef ecosystems have degraded massively worldwide, and restoration efforts have as yet not managed to realize the scale required to reverse continued degradation. To achieve effective scales, scientific insights in restoration methods should be paired with industry-based approaches used for infrastructural development. We illustrate by...

To restore coastal marine areas, we need to work across multiple habitats simultaneously

Enhancing survival of ex-situ reared sexual recruits of Acropora palmata for reef rehabilitation

Acropora palmata is one of the major reef-building coral species in the Caribbean. The species has suffered drastic declines in abundance and sexual recruitment over the past decades. One method for active rehabilitation of A. palmata reefs is by assisting the production of sexual recruits under controlled lab conditions. Within this study,...

The potential impact of human interventions at different scales in offshore wind farms to promote flat oyster (Ostrea edulis) reef development in the southern North Sea

Incorporation of ecology and ecosystem services into marine infrastructural developments has gained interest over the last decades. Growing attention is given to combine the massive roll-out of offshore wind farms in the North Sea with reinstating the once rich but nowadays nearly extinct European flat oyster (Ostrea edulis). However, the...

Offshore wind farms contribute to epibenthic biodiversity in the North Sea

The North Sea was once abundantly covered with hard substrates such as oyster beds, coarse peat banks and glacial erratics, providing habitat to a rich community of marine species. Most of these habitats were destroyed by bottom-trawl fisheries over the past century, and today, the seabed hosts a relatively poor species community. Emerging...

Part I - Ch 2 A constant need for change

The coral engine: The way for local communities to sustainably produce corals for Reef Rehabilitation at a large scale

Traditionally, marine infrastructure development is regarded to have a negative impact on the ecosystem in or near which it occurs. As a consequence, a whole industry has been treated as a threat and the ingenuity of companies in this industry was forced to focus on minimizing potential negative impacts. Recent trends are to also consider...