Artificial reef design affects benthic secondary productivity and provision of functional habitat.

ABSTRACT: Novel hard substratum, introduced through offshore developments, can provide habitat for marine species and thereby function as an artificial reef. To predict the ecological consequences of deploying offshore infrastructure, and sustainably manage the installation of new structures, interactions between artificial reefs and marine ecosystem functions and services must be understood. This requires quantitative data on the relationships between secondary productivity and artificial reef design, across all trophic levels. Benthic secondary productivity is, however, one of the least studied processes on artificial reefs.In this study, we show that productivity rates of a common suspension feeder, Flustra foliacea (Linnaeus 1758), were 2.4 times higher on artificial reefs constructed fro

SUBMITTER: Rouse S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7042684 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature