Abstract
The ecological importance of benthic organisms, which provide valuable ecosystem goods and services, necessitates careful research into the effects of offshore windfarms on the marine benthos. This chapter summarizes the results from benthos research activities within the StUKplus programme. The results showed considerable effects of the windfarm alpha ventus on the abundance and biomass of the benthic fauna. The major effect of the introduction of numerous wind turbine constructions into the marine environment was the aggregation and production of marine biota on the submersed structures, resulting in a substantial increase of the structural and functional biodiversity of the benthic system.
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Gutow, L., Teschke, K., Schmidt, A., Dannheim, J., Krone, R., Gusky, M. (2014). Rapid increase of benthic structural and functional diversity at the alpha ventus offshore test site. In: Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency, ., Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, . (eds) Ecological Research at the Offshore Windfarm alpha ventus. Springer Spektrum, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-02462-8_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-02462-8_9
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