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...

Mapping biotic and abiotic seafloor habitat characteristics with multi-spectral multi-beam backscatter data

Detailed knowledge of both the sedimentological and ecological characteristics of the seafloor is essential when undertaking bottom-disturbing activities, but can be a challenge to obtain. Through backscatter data at different frequencies, collected with a multi-spectral multi-beam sonar, information on the structure of both the sediment...

Changed sediment composition prevents recovery of macrobenthic community four years after a shoreface nourishment at the Holland coast

Sand nourishment is a widespread management strategy to protect sandy coasts against erosion. Nourishments can impact the benthic fauna directly by burial and indirectly by changing environmental conditions such as bottom shear stress and/or sediment composition (grain size distribution). The macrobenthic community in soft-bottom environments...

Indications of marine benthos occurrence from multi-spectral multi-beam backscatter data: a case study in the North Sea

To facilitate the conservation of seafloor habitats and planning of offshore activities, there is a growing need for mapping marine benthos in an effective and efficient way. Acoustic data acquired by multi-beam echosounders (MBES) have been extensively used for large-scale and high-resolution seafloor characterization. A deeper understanding of...

The geomorphology of an ebb-tidal-delta linked to benthic species distribution and functionality

As a response to climate change and sea-level rise, new nourishment strategies for low-lying sandy coasts are developed. These interventions affect the habitat quality of coastal ecosystems for benthic communities. Unraveling the relationship between benthic fauna and their environment facilitates the design of sustainable management...

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...

A Mega-Nourishment (Sand Motor) Affects Landscape Diversity of Subtidal Benthic Fauna

The Sand Motor is a very large (20 million m³) nourishment constructed along the coast in The Netherlands. The huge volume of sand is redistributed along the coast by natural forces stemming from tidal currents and waves. For environmental evaluation of this large construction, the benthic subtidal fauna has been sampled prior to...

Monitoring en evaluatie Pilot Zandmotor Fase 2: Data rapport vis- en epibenthosbemonstering najaar 2012

Dit rapport beschrijft data verzameld tijdens de visbemonstering en benthosbemostering op en rond de Zandmotor, in de late zomer van 2012. De bemonsteringslocaties zijn op waterdieptes tussen 2,5 en 12,5 m op de raaien geplaatst.

Verkenning naar validatiemethoden voor het Zoute wateren EcotopenStelsel (ZES.1) in de Westerschelde: LTV O&M habitatvoorspelinstrumentarium validatietechnieken

Ontwikkelimplementatie GEM Eems-Dollard - fase 3: Uitontwikkeling en implementatie microfytobenthosmodule

Salt Marsh cycles, an achievement report