Measuring sensitivity of two OSPAR indicators for a coastal food web model under offshore wind farm construction

• Published in: Ecological indicators 2019-01, Vol.96 (1), p.728-738
• Main Authors: Raoux, Aurore, Lassalle, Géraldine, Pezy, Jean-Philippe, Tecchio, Samuele, Safi, Georges, Ernande, Bruno, Mazé, Camille, Loc'h, François Le, Lequesne, Justine, Girardin, Valérie, Dauvin, Jean-Claude, Niquil, Nathalie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biodiversity and Ecology; Ecological Network Analysis; Ecopath with Ecosim; Environmental Sciences; Marine renewable energy; Mean Trophic Level; Reef effect; Reserve effect
• ISSN: 1470-160X; 1872-7034
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2018.07.014

[Display omitted] •Ecopath models before/after offshore wind farm were built.•ENA indices revealed significant changes in ecosystem structure and functioning.•Ecosystem maturity was predicted to increase after offshore wind farm construction. A combination of modelling tools was applied to simulate the impacts of the future Courseulles-sur-mer offshore wind farm (OWF) construction (Bay of Seine, English Channel) on the ecosystem structure and functioning. To do so, food-web models of the ecosystem under three scenarios were constructed to investigate the effect caused by the OWF of added substrate (reef effect), fishing restriction (reserve effect), and their combined effect. Further, Ecological Network Analysis indices and Mean Trophic Level were derived to investigate their suitability for detecting changes in the ecosystem state. Our analysis suggests changes in the ecosystem structure and functioning after the OWF construction, the ecosystem maturity was predicted to increase, but no alterations in its overall resilience capacity.