The Experts below are selected from a list of 690 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform

Ilse De Mesel - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • turning off the drip data rich information poor rationalising monitoring with a focus on marine renewable energy developments and the benthos
    Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2017
    Co-Authors: Thomas A Wilding, Liis Rostin, Urszula Janas, Jean-philippe Pezy, Arjen Boon, Andrew B. Gill, Jean-claude Dauvin, Emma V Sheehan, Francis Obeirn, Ilse De Mesel
    Abstract:

    Marine renewable energy developments (MREDs) are rapidly expanding in size and number as society strives to maintain electricity generation whilst simultaneously reducing climate-change linked CO2 emissions. MREDs are part of an ongoing large-scale modification of coastal waters that also includes activities such as commercial fishing, shipping, Aggregate Extraction, aquaculture, dredging, spoil-dumping and oil and gas exploitation. It is increasingly accepted that developments, of any kind, should only proceed if they are ecologically sustainable and will not reduce current or future delivery of ecosystem services. The benthos underpins crucial marine ecosystem services yet, in relation to MREDs, is currently poorly monitored: current monitoring programmes are extensive and costly yet provide little useful data in relation to ecosystem-scale-related changes, a situation called ‘data-rich, information-poor’ (DRIP). MRED –benthic interactions may cause changes that are of a sufficient scale to change ecosystem services provision, particularly in terms of fisheries and biodiversity and, via trophic linkages, change the distribution of fish, birds and mammals. The production of DRIPy data should be eliminated and the resources used instead to address relevant questions that are logically bounded in time and space. Efforts should target identifying metrics of change that can be linked to ecosystem function or service provision, particularly where those metrics show strongly non-linear effects in relation to the stressor. Future monitoring should also be designed to contribute towards predictive ecosystem models and be sufficiently robust and understandable to facilitate transparent, auditable and timely decision-making.

  • Turning off the DRIP (‘Data-rich, information-poor’) – rationalising monitoring with a focus on marine renewable energy developments and the benthos
    Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2017
    Co-Authors: Thomas A Wilding, Emma Sheehan, Francis O'beirn, Liis Rostin, Urszula Janas, Jean-philippe Pezy, Arjen Boon, Andrew B. Gill, Jean-claude Dauvin, Ilse De Mesel
    Abstract:

    Marine renewable energy developments (MREDs) are rapidly expanding in size and number as society strives to maintain electricity generation whilst simultaneously reducing climate-change linked CO2emissions. MREDs are part of an ongoing large-scale modification of coastal waters that also includes activities such as commercial fishing, shipping, Aggregate Extraction, aquaculture, dredging, spoil-dumping and oil and gas exploitation. It is increasingly accepted that developments, of any kind, should only proceed if they are ecologically sustainable and will not reduce current or future delivery of ecosystem services. The benthos underpins crucial marine ecosystem services yet, in relation to MREDs, is currently poorly monitored: current monitoring programmes are extensive and costly yet provide little useful data in relation to ecosystem-scale-related changes, a situation called ‘data-rich, information-poor’ (DRIP). MRED –benthic interactions may cause changes that are of a sufficient scale to change ecosystem services provision, particularly in terms of fisheries and biodiversity and, via trophic linkages, change the distribution of fish, birds and mammals. The production of DRIPy data should be eliminated and the resources used instead to address relevant questions that are logically bounded in time and space. Efforts should target identifying metrics of change that can be linked to ecosystem function or service provision, particularly where those metrics show strongly non-linear effects in relation to the stressor. Future monitoring should also be designed to contribute towards predictive ecosystem models and be sufficiently robust and understandable to facilitate transparent, auditable and timely decision-making.

Keith M. Cooper - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • The effects of marine sand and gravel Extraction on the sediment composition and macrofaunal community of a commercial dredging site (15 years post-dredging).
    Marine pollution bulletin, 2015
    Co-Authors: Georgia A Waye-barker, Paul Mcilwaine, Sophie Lozach, Keith M. Cooper
    Abstract:

    A prediction that faunal recovery of a marine Aggregate Extraction site subjected to high dredging intensity was likely to take 15-20 years was investigated. Samples were collected at the high dredging intensity site and two reference sites in 2011 (15 years post-dredging). Results indicated that the high site had similar sediment characteristics to the reference sites by 2011. Macrofaunal data analyses showed no difference between the values of all calculated univariate measures (abundance, number of taxa, biomass and evenness) between the high and reference sites. Multivariate analyses found that the macrofaunal community at the high site was comparable to those of the reference sites by 2011. Overall, the results supported the predicted recovery time. The findings of the study suggest that persistent physical impacts prolonged the biological recovery of the high site.

  • can the benefits of physical seabed restoration justify the costs an assessment of a disused Aggregate Extraction site off the thames estuary uk
    Marine Pollution Bulletin, 2013
    Co-Authors: Keith M. Cooper, Suzanne Ware, Daryl Burdon, Jonathan P Atkins, Laura Weiss, Paul J Somerfield, Michael Elliott, Kerry Turner, Chris Vivian
    Abstract:

    Physical and biological seabed impacts can persist long after the cessation of marine Aggregate dredging. Whilst small-scale experimental studies have shown that it may be possible to mitigate such impacts, it is unclear whether the costs of restoration are justified on an industrial scale. Here we explore this question using a case study off the Thames Estuary, UK. By understanding the nature and scale of persistent impacts, we identify possible techniques to restore the physical properties of the seabed, and the costs and the likelihood of success. An analysis of the ecosystem services and goods/benefits produced by the site is used to determine whether intervention is justified. Whilst a comparison of costs and benefits at this site suggests restoration would not be warranted, the analysis is site-specific. We emphasise the need to better define what is, and is not, an acceptable seabed condition post-dredging.

  • Setting limits for acceptable change in sediment particle size composition: testing a new approach to managing marine Aggregate dredging.
    Marine Pollution Bulletin, 2013
    Co-Authors: Keith M. Cooper
    Abstract:

    A baseline dataset from 2005 was used to identify the spatial distribution of macrofaunal assemblages across the eastern English Channel. The range of sediment composition found in association with each assemblage was used to define limits for acceptable change at ten licensed marine Aggregate Extraction areas. Sediment data acquired in 2010, 4 years after the onset of dredging, were used to assess whether conditions remained within the acceptable limits. Despite the observed changes in sediment composition, the composition of sediments in and around nine Extraction areas remained within pre-defined acceptable limits. At the tenth site, some of the observed changes within the licence area were judged to have gone beyond the acceptable limits. Implications of the changes are discussed, and appropriate management measures identified. The approach taken in this study offers a simple, objective and cost-effective method for assessing the significance of change, and could simplify the existing monitoring regime.

  • Setting limits for acceptable change in sediment particle size composition following marine Aggregate dredging
    Marine Pollution Bulletin, 2012
    Co-Authors: Keith M. Cooper
    Abstract:

    Abstract In the UK, Government policy requires marine Aggregate Extraction companies to leave the seabed in a similar physical condition after the cessation of dredging. This measure is intended to promote recovery, and the return of a similar faunal community to that which existed before dredging. Whilst the policy is sensible, and in line with the principles of sustainable development, the use of the word ‘similar’ is open to interpretation. There is, therefore, a need to set quantifiable limits for acceptable change in sediment composition. Using a case study site, it is shown how such limits could be defined by the range of sediment particle size composition naturally found in association with the faunal assemblages in the wider region. Whilst the approach offers a number of advantages over the present system, further testing would be required before it could be recommended for use in the regulatory context.

  • Assessment of ecosystem function following marine Aggregate dredging
    Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 2008
    Co-Authors: Keith M. Cooper, Christopher R.s. Barrio Froján, E. C. Defew, Matthew Curtis, Annelise Fleddum, Lucy Brooks, David M. Paterson
    Abstract:

    A number of indices designed to assess ecosystem function were applied to an existing benthic macrofaunal dataset collected following recent marine Aggregate Extraction activity at the Hastings Shingle Bank (UK). The objective of the study was to assess the use of these different functional metrics, some incorporating biological traits analysis, to investigate the rate of recovery in ecosystem function after dredging impact. All of the indices tested behaved in a broadly similar fashion following the Aggregate Extraction event, although some suggested faster rates of functional recovery than others. All indicated that the disturbed area of seabed was capable of full recovery given enough time. It is considered that this outcome may be because the physical nature of the seabed was unlikely to have been permanently altered by dredging for Aggregate by the method used. This is not always the case following Aggregate Extraction and depends on the dredging protocol used (e.g., sediment screening). The indices tested (some applied for the first time to benthic macrofaunal data) were considered to be complementary to traditional environmental assessment metrics and each might be used under different circumstances.

Thomas A Wilding - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • turning off the drip data rich information poor rationalising monitoring with a focus on marine renewable energy developments and the benthos
    Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2017
    Co-Authors: Thomas A Wilding, Liis Rostin, Urszula Janas, Jean-philippe Pezy, Arjen Boon, Andrew B. Gill, Jean-claude Dauvin, Emma V Sheehan, Francis Obeirn, Ilse De Mesel
    Abstract:

    Marine renewable energy developments (MREDs) are rapidly expanding in size and number as society strives to maintain electricity generation whilst simultaneously reducing climate-change linked CO2 emissions. MREDs are part of an ongoing large-scale modification of coastal waters that also includes activities such as commercial fishing, shipping, Aggregate Extraction, aquaculture, dredging, spoil-dumping and oil and gas exploitation. It is increasingly accepted that developments, of any kind, should only proceed if they are ecologically sustainable and will not reduce current or future delivery of ecosystem services. The benthos underpins crucial marine ecosystem services yet, in relation to MREDs, is currently poorly monitored: current monitoring programmes are extensive and costly yet provide little useful data in relation to ecosystem-scale-related changes, a situation called ‘data-rich, information-poor’ (DRIP). MRED –benthic interactions may cause changes that are of a sufficient scale to change ecosystem services provision, particularly in terms of fisheries and biodiversity and, via trophic linkages, change the distribution of fish, birds and mammals. The production of DRIPy data should be eliminated and the resources used instead to address relevant questions that are logically bounded in time and space. Efforts should target identifying metrics of change that can be linked to ecosystem function or service provision, particularly where those metrics show strongly non-linear effects in relation to the stressor. Future monitoring should also be designed to contribute towards predictive ecosystem models and be sufficiently robust and understandable to facilitate transparent, auditable and timely decision-making.

  • Turning off the DRIP (‘Data-rich, information-poor’) – rationalising monitoring with a focus on marine renewable energy developments and the benthos
    Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2017
    Co-Authors: Thomas A Wilding, Emma Sheehan, Francis O'beirn, Liis Rostin, Urszula Janas, Jean-philippe Pezy, Arjen Boon, Andrew B. Gill, Jean-claude Dauvin, Ilse De Mesel
    Abstract:

    Marine renewable energy developments (MREDs) are rapidly expanding in size and number as society strives to maintain electricity generation whilst simultaneously reducing climate-change linked CO2emissions. MREDs are part of an ongoing large-scale modification of coastal waters that also includes activities such as commercial fishing, shipping, Aggregate Extraction, aquaculture, dredging, spoil-dumping and oil and gas exploitation. It is increasingly accepted that developments, of any kind, should only proceed if they are ecologically sustainable and will not reduce current or future delivery of ecosystem services. The benthos underpins crucial marine ecosystem services yet, in relation to MREDs, is currently poorly monitored: current monitoring programmes are extensive and costly yet provide little useful data in relation to ecosystem-scale-related changes, a situation called ‘data-rich, information-poor’ (DRIP). MRED –benthic interactions may cause changes that are of a sufficient scale to change ecosystem services provision, particularly in terms of fisheries and biodiversity and, via trophic linkages, change the distribution of fish, birds and mammals. The production of DRIPy data should be eliminated and the resources used instead to address relevant questions that are logically bounded in time and space. Efforts should target identifying metrics of change that can be linked to ecosystem function or service provision, particularly where those metrics show strongly non-linear effects in relation to the stressor. Future monitoring should also be designed to contribute towards predictive ecosystem models and be sufficiently robust and understandable to facilitate transparent, auditable and timely decision-making.

S. I. Rogers - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • recovery of uk seabed habitats from benthic fishing and Aggregate Extraction towards a cumulative impact assessment
    Marine Ecology Progress Series, 2010
    Co-Authors: Jo Foden, S. I. Rogers, Andrew Jones
    Abstract:

    Assessing cumulative impacts of multiple pressures on the marine environment can help inform management response. This requires understanding of the spatial and temporal distribution of human pressures and their impacts. Quantifying seabed recovery rates from 2 significant pressures in European waters, benthic fishing and Aggregate Extraction, is a significant step towards assessing sensitivity and cumulative impacts. Vessel monitoring system data were used to estimate the distribution and intensity of benthic fishing in UK (England and Wales) marine waters (2006 to 2007). Data were separated by towed bottom-fishing gears (scallop dredges, beam and otter trawls) and linked to habitat in a geographic information system. Recovery periods of seabed habitats were estimated by literature review, for gear types and fishing intensity. Recovery rates generally increased with sediment hardness, and habitats required longer periods of recovery from scallop dredging than from otter or beam trawling. Fishing pressure across the habitat-gear combinations was such that 80% of the bottom-fished area was estimated to be able to recover completely before repeat trawling, based on mean annual trawl frequencies. However, in 19% of the UK's bottomfished seabed, scallop dredging in sand and gravel and otter trawling in muddy sand and reef habitats occurred at frequencies that prevented full habitat recovery. In 2007, benthic fishing and Aggregate Extraction occurred together in an estimated 40 km2 (

  • Linking GIS with Bayesian Belief Networks as a practical approach to support marine spatial planning
    Proceedings from the 2010 AGU Ocean Sciences Meeting, 2010
    Co-Authors: Vanessa Stelzenmüller, E Garnacho, Jay Lee, S. Rogers, S. I. Rogers
    Abstract:

    Worldwide increasing pressure on the marine environment requires integrated and ecosystem-based approaches to marine management such as marine spatial planning. A sound understanding of the relationship between cumulative human pressures, sensitive ecosystem components and the overall level of vulnerability within a planning area is crucial for the development of sustainable plans. As yet, the assessment of those relationships is still a difficult task in practice. For the UK continental shelf we developed a geospatial framework that links GIS with a decision support tool such as a Bayesian Belief network to visualise these complex relationships and to assess what/if scenarios that simulated also marine planning objectives with related changes in management measures. As an example we considered data layers on three types of human activities (oil and gas infrastructure, demersal fishing and Aggregate dredging), major UK marine landscapes, and measures of marine landscape sensitivity. First based on the findings we assessed cumulative pressures and the overall likelihood of different levels of vulnerability at the UK continental shelf. An overall sensitivity assessment showed that the prediction of cumulative pressures is most sensitive to data on the oil and gas infrastructure, followed by demersal fishing and Aggregate Extraction. Results showed that the prediction of the overall level of vulnerability is more sensitive to predictions on cumulative pressure than to the measure of sensitivity. This implies that sound spatial assessment of footprints and intensities of human activities have more impact on the overall assessment of vulnerability then the type of sensitivity measure used. We then defined scenarios that reflect changes in human pressures and predicted changes in the vulnerability levels and simulated marine planning objectives such as the maintenance of a certain vulnerability level and predicted the required management measures. We conclude that our practical approach allows visualising complex relationships, to engage different stakeholder views, and enables a quick update of new spatial data and relationships. Ultimately, such GIS based tools can support the decision making process for the development of marine plans but allow also for an adaptive marine management.

  • towards a spatially explicit risk assessment for marine management assessing the vulnerability of fish to Aggregate Extraction
    Biological Conservation, 2010
    Co-Authors: Vanessa Stelzenmüller, Jim R Ellis, S. I. Rogers
    Abstract:

    Management of human activities in the marine environment increasingly requires spatially explicit risk assessments that link the occurrence and magnitude of a pressure to information on the sensitivity of the environment. We developed a marine spatial risk assessment framework for the UK continental shelf assessing the vulnerability of 11 fish and shellfish species to Aggregate Extraction. We calculated a sensitivity index (SI) using life-history characteristics and modelled species distributions on the UK shelf using long-term monitoring data and indicator kriging. Merging sensitivity indices and predicted species distributions allowed us to map the sensitivity of the selected fish to Aggregate Extraction. The robustness of the sensitivity map was affected primarily by widespread species with a low to medium level of sensitivity, while highly sensitive species with more restricted distributions had a limited effect on the overall sensitivity. The highest sensitivity in the case study occurred in coastal regions, and where nursery and spawning areas of four important commercial species occur. To test the framework, we overlaid the estimated sensitivity map with the occurrence of Aggregate Extraction activity in inshore waters, including sediment plume estimations, to describe species vulnerability to dredging. We conclude that our spatially explicit risk assessment framework can be applied to other ecosystem components and pressures at different spatial scales and it is therefore a promising tool that can support the sustainable development of marine spatial plans.

  • recovery rates of uk seabed habitats after cessation of Aggregate Extraction
    Marine Ecology Progress Series, 2009
    Co-Authors: Jo Foden, S. I. Rogers, Andrew Jones
    Abstract:

    Marine Aggregate Extraction and benthic fishing are the 2 largest causes of physical disturbance to the UK seabed. Aggregate dredging is a damaging but highly spatially heterogeneous pressure with a footprint

Andrew Jones - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • Recovery of UK seabed habitats from benthic fishing and Aggregate Extraction — towards a cumulative impact assessment
    Marine Ecology Progress Series, 2010
    Co-Authors: Jo Foden, Stuart I. Rogers, Andrew Jones
    Abstract:

    Assessing cumulative impacts of multiple pressures on the marine environment can help inform management response. This requires understanding of the spatial and temporal distribution of human pressures and their impacts. Quantifying seabed recovery rates from 2 significant pressures in European waters, benthic fishing and Aggregate Extraction, is a significant step towards assessing sensitivity and cumulative impacts. Vessel monitoring system data were used to estimate the distribution and intensity of benthic fishing in UK (England and Wales) marine waters (2006 to 2007). Data were separated by towed bottom-fishing gears (scallop dredges, beam and otter trawls) and linked to habitat in a geographic information system. Recovery periods of seabed habitats were estimated by literature review, for gear types and fishing intensity. Recovery rates generally increased with sediment hardness, and habitats required longer periods of recovery from scallop dredging than from otter or beam trawling. Fishing pressure across the habitat-gear combinations was such that 80% of the bottom-fished area was estimated to be able to recover completely before repeat trawling, based on mean annual trawl frequencies. However, in 19% of the UK's bottomfished seabed, scallop dredging in sand and gravel and otter trawling in muddy sand and reef habitats occurred at frequencies that prevented full habitat recovery. In 2007, benthic fishing and Aggregate Extraction occurred together in an estimated 40 km2 (

  • recovery of uk seabed habitats from benthic fishing and Aggregate Extraction towards a cumulative impact assessment
    Marine Ecology Progress Series, 2010
    Co-Authors: Jo Foden, S. I. Rogers, Andrew Jones
    Abstract:

    Assessing cumulative impacts of multiple pressures on the marine environment can help inform management response. This requires understanding of the spatial and temporal distribution of human pressures and their impacts. Quantifying seabed recovery rates from 2 significant pressures in European waters, benthic fishing and Aggregate Extraction, is a significant step towards assessing sensitivity and cumulative impacts. Vessel monitoring system data were used to estimate the distribution and intensity of benthic fishing in UK (England and Wales) marine waters (2006 to 2007). Data were separated by towed bottom-fishing gears (scallop dredges, beam and otter trawls) and linked to habitat in a geographic information system. Recovery periods of seabed habitats were estimated by literature review, for gear types and fishing intensity. Recovery rates generally increased with sediment hardness, and habitats required longer periods of recovery from scallop dredging than from otter or beam trawling. Fishing pressure across the habitat-gear combinations was such that 80% of the bottom-fished area was estimated to be able to recover completely before repeat trawling, based on mean annual trawl frequencies. However, in 19% of the UK's bottomfished seabed, scallop dredging in sand and gravel and otter trawling in muddy sand and reef habitats occurred at frequencies that prevented full habitat recovery. In 2007, benthic fishing and Aggregate Extraction occurred together in an estimated 40 km2 (

  • recovery rates of uk seabed habitats after cessation of Aggregate Extraction
    Marine Ecology Progress Series, 2009
    Co-Authors: Jo Foden, S. I. Rogers, Andrew Jones
    Abstract:

    Marine Aggregate Extraction and benthic fishing are the 2 largest causes of physical disturbance to the UK seabed. Aggregate dredging is a damaging but highly spatially heterogeneous pressure with a footprint