This proof-of-concept pilot study is exploring if existing Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) recordings can be used to assess changes in ecosystem health, specifically in relation to the benthic and fish communities associated with different habitat types. Changes in species composition and various stressors (e.g. noise pollution) are expected to occur during and after the installation of windfarms. Emerging fields in research, such as marine ecoacoustics, have the potential to contribute to an understanding of wider ecosystem dynamics at a high temporal resolution, without the need to collect more data. This project will therefore establish if and how PAM data can be used as a monitoring tool to inform processes such as marine assessments planning, and licensing of windfarms.
Funder:
Scottish Government ScotMER Programme
Team
Dr Laurence De Clippele (PI) and Ross Barnett (Research Assistant)
Publications
De Clippele LH, Barnett RJ, Bolgan M, Kent F, Wright K, Gilliland A (in prep) Passive acoustic monitoring as a tool to monitor benthic biodiversity in offshore wind farms
Laurence De Clippele's Research Group 