Species distribution modelling and mapping
Research windfarm alpha ventus
Particularly in coastal seas like the North Sea, conflicts over use between economic interests (e.g. shipping, fishery, sand removal and dumping, cables and pipelines), on the one hand, and marine environmental protection, on the other hand, pose a great challenge. In the North Sea especially, the demands for sustainable, ecosystem-compatible management and spatial planning of the various uses will rise in the coming years, not least of all due to the constructuion of offshore windfarms. In practice, however, implementation of ecosystem-compatible management involves considerable difficulties:
(1) Effects of the diverse marine uses interact with one another and consequently have a carry-over impact on the natural system of the North Sea.
(2) Habitats, species communities and species differ in their sensitivity to human influence.
(3) In terrestrial ecology spatial modelling of species and habitats is an established method of sustainable management spatial planning, but is still in its infancy in the marine realm.
A key problem of marine modelling and mapping is the lack of detailed knowledge on a) the spatial distribution of species, species communities and habitats, and b) the ecological “functioning”, i.e. the interaction between species in a community, in the North Sea.
Benthic stations in the German EEZ of the North Sea: data from environmental assessment studies of approved offshore windfarms (red-colored areas, state of the art: November 2010), monitoring programs and scientific projects (blue dots)
In an ongoing project within the scope of the StUKplus research programme AWI is evaluating the standard concept for investigating the effects of offshore wind turbines on the marine environment (StUK) in cooperation with BSH (Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency). The main investigation area in this context is the alpha ventus research wind farm (further information on research concerning alpha ventus: RAVE). The objectives of the project are to model and map bottom-dwelling communities and species in the German Bight and conduct a large-scale investigation of the influence of offshore windfarms on seafloor fauna.
For the first time data from environmental impact assessments on offshore windfarms that have been applied for and approved as well as scientific monitoring programmes and research projects will be evaluated jointly. The unique data volume will enable a high-resolution evaluation of the distribution of bottom-dwelling species in the German Bight. On these pages you will find initial results in the form of distribution maps of bottom-dwelling North Sea species.
