Fouling community on the foundations of wind turbines and the surrounding scour protection

The introduction of hard substrata in the mainly sandy environment of the Belgian part of the North Sea provides a new habitat to species that could previously not establish in the area. The community is dominated by the amphipod Jassa herdmani, the hydroids Tubularia larynx and T. indivisa and Actiniaria species, of which the plumose anemone Metridium senile is the most dominant. Only few species, especially those arriving early in the colonization process, are able to establish a viable population. The vertical foundations and the complex three-dimensional structure of the scour protection harbour different fouling communities