Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, USA.
MIT-WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography/Applied Ocean Science and Engineering, Cambridge, Woods Hole, MA, USA.
Sci Rep. 2022 Sep 13;12(1):15380. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-19838-6.
Large-scale offshore wind farms are a critical component of the worldwide climate strategy. However, their developments have been opposed by the fishing industry because of concerns regarding the impacts of pile driving vibrations during constructions on commercially important marine invertebrates, including bivalves. Using field-based daily exposure, we showed that pile driving induced repeated valve closures in different scallop life stages, with particularly stronger effects for juveniles. Scallops showed no acclimatization to repetitive pile driving across and within days, yet quickly returned to their initial behavioral baselines after vibration-cessation. While vibration sensitivity was consistent, daily pile driving did not disrupt scallop circadian rhythm, but suggests serious impacts at night when valve openings are greater. Overall, our results show distance and temporal patterns can support future mitigation strategies but also highlight concerns regarding the larger impact ranges of impending widespread offshore wind farm constructions on scallop populations.
大型海上风电场是全球气候战略的关键组成部分。然而，由于担心在建造过程中打桩振动对包括双壳类动物在内的商业上重要的海洋无脊椎动物的影响，渔业对此持反对意见。本研究使用基于现场的每日暴露实验，表明打桩会导致不同扇贝生命阶段的重复阀关闭，对幼贝的影响尤其强烈。扇贝在打桩期间和打桩结束后都没有对重复打桩产生适应，然而在振动停止后，它们很快恢复到初始的行为基线。虽然振动敏感性是一致的，但每日打桩并没有破坏扇贝的昼夜节律，但表明在夜间阀口更大时，会产生严重影响。总的来说，我们的研究结果表明，距离和时间模式可以支持未来的缓解策略，但也凸显了即将进行的大规模海上风电场建设对扇贝种群的更大影响范围的担忧。
