25:["$","title",null,{"children":"An Ecological Perspective of Renewables | Vekta Group | Observable"}] 49:T4bf,This month's Insights will be exploring the relationship between renewable energy and the biosphere (organisms and ecosystems). These topics are inextricably linked, with both having strong ties to the climate crisis. Whilst renewable energy sources are far less harmful to the environment than finite resources such as fossil fuels, they can have some negative impacts on organisms and ecosystems. Therefore, we believe it is important to address all sides of renewable energy.

This week is looking into the ways in which offshore wind impacts the biosphere. We have used a 2022 review paper by Galparsoro et al. to provide holistic evidence of these impacts. Over 150 papers were compiled about the impacts of offshore wind on different aspects of the biosphere. Each of the studies focused on different pressures caused by offshore wind farms, biological indicators that change when exposed to the pressures, and the different ecological aspects that were affected by offshore wind. The ecological aspects included in this study are: birds, mammals, fish, reptiles, invertebrates, benthic habitats (seabed ecosystems), pelagic habitats (open water ecosystems), and ecosystem functions & processes.
4a:Te02,Pressures can be thought of as factors caused by human activity that may alter the environment. Galparsoro et al. (2022) identified 10 pressures associated with offshore wind, based on the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), provided at the end of this article. See below for definitions and examples of the identified pressures: | Pressure | Definition | Examples relevant to offshore wind | | ------ | -------- | | Biological Disturbance | Disruptions to ecosystems and organisms, such as species loss or habitat degradation | Introduction of pathogens, disturbance to feeding or breeding sites, displacement of key species | Energy | Input of anthropogenic energy such as light, heat or electromagnetism (excluding sound) | Electromagnetic fields produced by undersea cables, thermal impacts from turbine operation | Hydrological Changes | Changes to water characteristics, such as temperature, salinity or currents that may affect marine ecosystems | Altered water currents from the presence of offshore wind structures, changes in sediment transport or deposition | Non-Indigenous Species | Introduction of species outside their native range, potentially becoming invasive and disrupting ecosystems | Accidental introduction through ballast water or biofouling on wind farm structures | Nutrients | Excessive concentration of nutrients (mostly Nitrogen and Phosphorus) leading to ecological imbalance | Chemical runoff from wind farm construction/operation, excessive decomposition | Organic Matter | Input of non-natural organic materials | Waste from construction, operation or decommissioning | Other Substances | Input of non-organic metals, chemicals and other pollutants | Heavy metals from turbine construction, chemicals such as anti-fouling agents and lubricants | Physical Disturbance | Temporary or reversible morphological changes to the physical environment | Marine litter, changes to the seabed substrate for wind turbine foundations | Physical Loss | Loss of physical habitats, leading to long term impacts on species | Extraction and habitat loss of seabed substrate during installation | Sound | Input of anthropogenic noise | Continuous disturbance e.g. shipping or impulsive disturbance e.g. piling, seismic surveys
The first graph below visualises how the pressures affect different ecosystem aspects. Using the paper's supplemental information, each relationship of impact (from pressure to ecosystem aspect) was given a ranking, based on the recorded magnitude of impact across different studies.

To understand impacts with the highest magnitude, those with low magnitudes are discarded, meaning that not all observed relationships are plotted. Impacts that did not fall under 'Positive' or 'Negative' (i.e. 'Both', 'Not significant' and 'Unknown') are also discarded for this graph. Use the interactive dropdown tools to filter by source (pressure) and/or ecosystem aspect impacted (target). Note that not all dropdown combinations will appear on the graph if there is no recorded relationship.

We can see that energy and sound only cause negative impacts of high magnitude. Similarly, birds and reptiles are only negatively impacted by pressures associated with offshore wind. There are also a number of positive impacts. These are likely to be due to the presence of wind turbines creating artificial habitats, especially for invertebrates and smaller fish underwater, and birds above water. The relationships presented are incredibly complex, and the results presented only account for Positive or Negative effects.4b:T220e,chart = { // Create a container for the legend, dropdowns, and chart const container = html`

`; // Add colour legend const legend = html`

Positive Impact Negative Impact

`; // Add width legend const widthLegend = html`

Smallest Impact Largest Impact

`; container.appendChild(widthLegend); container.appendChild(legend); // Define node and link data const nodes = [ { name: "Biological Disturbance" }, { name: "Energy" }, { name: "Hydrological Changes" }, { name: "Other Substances" }, { name: "Physical Disturbance" }, { name: "Sound" }, { name: "Physical Loss" }, { name: "Birds" }, { name: "Mammals" }, { name: "Fish" }, { name: "Ecosystem Functions & Processes" }, { name: "Invertebrates" }, { name: "Benthic Habitats" }, { name: "Reptiles" } ]; const links = [ { source: "Biological Disturbance", target: "Ecosystem Functions & Processes", value: 9, impact: "Negative" }, { source: "Biological Disturbance", target: "Ecosystem Functions & Processes", value: 15, impact: "Positive" }, { source: "Biological Disturbance", target: "Fish", value: 4, impact: "Negative" }, { source: "Biological Disturbance", target: "Fish", value: 6, impact: "Positive" }, { source: "Biological Disturbance", target: "Invertebrates", value: 5, impact: "Negative" }, { source: "Biological Disturbance", target: "Invertebrates", value: 5, impact: "Positive" }, { source: "Biological Disturbance", target: "Mammals", value: 5, impact: "Negative" }, { source: "Biological Disturbance", target: "Mammals", value: 7, impact: "Positive" }, { source: "Biological Disturbance", target: "Birds", value: 7, impact: "Negative" }, { source: "Biological Disturbance", target: "Reptiles", value: 15, impact: "Negative" }, { source: "Energy", target: "Fish", value: 7, impact: "Negative" }, { source: "Energy", target: "Reptiles", value: 15, impact: "Negative" }, { source: "Hydrological Changes", target: "Ecosystem Functions & Processes", value: 4, impact: "Negative" }, { source: "Other Substances", target: "Invertebrates", value: 15, impact: "Positive" }, { source: "Other Substances", target: "Ecosystem Functions & Processes", value: 4, impact: "Negative" }, { source: "Physical Disturbance", target: "Ecosystem Functions & Processes", value: 5, impact: "Negative" }, { source: "Physical Disturbance", target: "Ecosystem Functions & Processes", value: 7, impact: "Positive" }, { source: "Physical Disturbance", target: "Birds", value: 15, impact: "Negative" }, { source: "Physical Disturbance", target: "Benthic Habitats", value: 4, impact: "Negative" }, { source: "Physical Disturbance", target: "Benthic Habitats", value: 6, impact: "Positive" }, { source: "Sound", target: "Ecosystem Functions & Processes", value: 6, impact: "Negative" }, { source: "Sound", target: "Invertebrates", value: 5, impact: "Negative" }, { source: "Sound", target: "Mammals", value: 5, impact: "Negative" }, { source: "Sound", target: "Birds", value: 6, impact: "Negative" }, { source: "Sound", target: "Reptiles", value: 15, impact: "Negative" }, { source: "Physical Loss", target: "Ecosystem Functions & Processes", value: 15, impact: "Positive" }, { source: "Physical Loss", target: "Fish", value: 7, impact: "Positive" }, { source: "Physical Loss", target: "Invertebrates", value: 6, impact: "Positive" }, { source: "Physical Loss", target: "Birds", value: 15, impact: "Negative" }, { source: "Physical Loss", target: "Benthic Habitats", value: 4, impact: "Negative" }, { source: "Physical Loss", target: "Benthic Habitats", value: 15, impact: "Positive" } ]; // Create dropdown elements container.appendChild(Object.assign(document.createElement("label"), { textContent: "Filter by Source: " })); const sourceSelect = Object.assign(document.createElement("select"), { onchange: updateChart }); container.appendChild(sourceSelect); container.appendChild(Object.assign(document.createElement("label"), { textContent: " Filter by Target: " })); const targetSelect = Object.assign(document.createElement("select"), { onchange: updateChart }); container.appendChild(targetSelect); // Populate dropdowns for (const option of ["all", ...new Set(links.map(d => d.source))]) { sourceSelect.appendChild(new Option(option, option)); } for (const option of ["all", ...new Set(links.map(d => d.target))]) { targetSelect.appendChild(new Option(option, option)); } // Create an SVG container const svg = d3.create("svg") .attr("width", 1100) .attr("height", 900) .attr("viewBox", [0, 0, 1200, 1000]) .attr("style", "max-width: 100%; height: auto; font: 18px sans-serif;"); container.appendChild(svg.node()); // Define Sankey layout const sankeyGenerator = d3.sankey() .nodeId(d => d.name) .nodeAlign(d3.sankeyLeft) .nodeWidth(15) .nodePadding(10) .extent([[1, 5], [1200 - 1, 1000 - 5]]); function drawSankey(filteredLinks) { const { nodes: sankeyNodes, links: sankeyLinks } = sankeyGenerator({ nodes: nodes.map(d => Object.assign({}, d)), links: filteredLinks.map(d => Object.assign({}, d)) }); svg.selectAll("*").remove(); const colorScale = d3.scaleOrdinal() .domain(["Positive", "Negative"]) .range(["rgba(0, 0, 255, 0.3)", "rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.3)"]); // Draw links const link = svg.append("g") .attr("fill", "none") .attr("stroke-opacity", 0.7) .selectAll("path") .data(sankeyLinks) .join("path") .attr("d", d3.sankeyLinkHorizontal()) .attr("stroke", d => colorScale(d.impact)) .attr("stroke-width", d => Math.max(1, d.width)) .on("mouseover", function (event, d) { tooltip.style("opacity", 1) .html(`Source: ${d.source.name}
Target: ${d.target.name}
Impact: ${d.impact}
Value: ${d.value}`) .style("left", (event.pageX + 10) + "px") .style("top", (event.pageY - 20) + "px"); }) .on("mouseout", () => tooltip.style("opacity", 0)); // Draw nodes const node = svg.append("g") .attr("stroke", "#000") .selectAll("rect") .data(sankeyNodes) .join("rect") .attr("x", d => d.x0) .attr("y", d => d.y0) .attr("height", d => d.y1 - d.y0) .attr("width", d => d.x1 - d.x0) .attr("fill", "#999"); svg.append("g") .attr("font-size", 14) .attr("fill", "#000") .selectAll("text") .data(sankeyNodes) .join("text") .attr("x", d => d.x0 < 600 ? d.x1 + 6 : d.x0 - 6) .attr("y", d => (d.y0 + d.y1) / 2) .attr("dy", "0.35em") .attr("text-anchor", d => d.x0 < 600 ? "start" : "end") .text(d => d.name); var tooltip = d3.select("body") .append("div") .style("font_family", "sans_serif") .attr("class", "tooltip") .style("position", "absolute") .style("background", "#ffffff") .style("padding", "10px") .style("border", "0.5px solid #ccc") .style("border-radius", "3px") .style("pointer-events", "none") .style("opacity", 0) } function updateChart() { const sourceFilter = sourceSelect.value; const targetFilter = targetSelect.value; const filteredLinks = links.filter(d => (sourceFilter === "all" || d.source === sourceFilter) && (targetFilter === "all" || d.target === targetFilter) ); drawSankey(filteredLinks); } drawSankey(links); return container; } 4c:T603,To understand whether an ecosystem is under threat from pressures, scientists can analyse responses that change over time - these are known as indicators. Galparsoro et al. (2022) identified 20 indicators related to the pressures caused by offshore wind farms.

The second graph shows how indicators are related to the environmental pressures. Impacts of all magnitude are included, although only 'Negative' impacts are chosen to show which indicators would be useful to track in relation to ecosystem health. The boxes are coloured by the number of ecosystem aspects that display changes in these indicators when exposed to the pressures, with darker boxes representing more ecosystem aspects affected.

The pressures of biological disturbance, energy and sound have negative impacts on a high number of ecosystem aspects. They also interact with multiple indicators, which means that they can be measured and tracked in multiple ways.

Although some trends are visible, it is important to remember that these are the results of one review study. Just because a box is not present in the following graph does not mean that the relationship does not exist. For example, non-indigenous species are known to impact distribution, abundance and biomass in other conditions. It means that this relationships is not observed in the specific context of pressures in the marine environment caused by offshore wind farms. Further research into interactions between multiple anthropogenic pressures is needed in this area.4d:[{"id":"a2088f75b782d571bd22b3746ad7d116497f66a13c68106eb6e050f61ed694e7dbf0890589ab23669e5125e652987dbe0fad0ab61c89d3c2c8e6e7f999673cf7","href":"https://static.observableusercontent.com/files/a2088f75b782d571bd22b3746ad7d116497f66a13c68106eb6e050f61ed694e7dbf0890589ab23669e5125e652987dbe0fad0ab61c89d3c2c8e6e7f999673cf7","name":"pressures@3.csv","type":"text/csv","lastModified":1743077782480.389,"size":4055}] 29:{"id":"ea375cd855fb48b2","slug":null,"title":"An Ecological Perspective of 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Pressures","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","tool":"$undefined","providerMetadata":"$undefined","attachments":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":24,"value":"$4c","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","tool":"$undefined","providerMetadata":"$undefined","attachments":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":28,"value":"Plot.plot({\n width: 1000,\n height: 650,\n marginLeft: 150, // Extra space for long labels\n marginBottom: 200,\n color: { scheme: \"Reds\", label: \"Affected number\" },\n x: { label: \"Indicator\" },\n y: { label: \"Pressure\" },\n marks: [\n Plot.rect(pressures, {\n x: \"indicator\",\n y: \"pressure\",\n fill: \"number\",\n title: (d) => `Pressure: ${d.pressure} \\n\nIndicator: ${d.indicator} \\n\nAffected number: ${d.number} \\n\nList of affected: ${d.list}`,\n tip: true,\n stroke: \"black\",\n strokeWidth: 0.5}),\n \n Plot.axisX({ anchor: \"bottom\", tickRotate: -45 }),\n Plot.axisY({ anchor: \"left\" })\n ]\n});\n","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","tool":"$undefined","providerMetadata":"$undefined","attachments":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":9,"value":"
\n## Appendix","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","tool":"$undefined","providerMetadata":"$undefined","attachments":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":470,"value":"Link to the study: Galparsoro, I., Menchaca, I., Garmendia, J. M., Borja, A., Iglesias, G. and Bald, J. 2022. Reviewing the ecological impacts of offshore wind farms. *npj Ocean Sustainability*. https://www.nature.com/articles/s44183-022-00003-5 ","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","tool":"$undefined","providerMetadata":"$undefined","attachments":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":22,"value":"Link to the MSFD: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:32008L0056","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","tool":"$undefined","providerMetadata":"$undefined","attachments":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":112,"value":"### Data","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","tool":"$undefined","providerMetadata":"$undefined","attachments":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":167,"value":"pressures = await FileAttachment(\"pressures@3.csv\").csv({typed: \"auto\"})","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","tool":"$undefined","providerMetadata":"$undefined","attachments":"$undefined","output":"pressures","database":"$undefined"},{"id":393,"value":"html``","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","tool":"$undefined","providerMetadata":"$undefined","attachments":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":11,"value":"### Pressures associated with Offshore Wind ","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","tool":"$undefined","providerMetadata":"$undefined","attachments":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":124,"value":"// [d3-sankey](https://github.com/d3/d3-sankey) is not part of the D3 bundle\nd3 = require(\"d3@7\", \"d3-sankey@0.12\")","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","tool":"$undefined","providerMetadata":"$undefined","attachments":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"}],"files":"$W4d","stdlib":"1"}} 24:null