Offshore wind farms harmful to mussels?
Research team investigates possible effects of particulate emissions in laboratory experiments
After several years of service under harsh weather conditions, the rotor blades of offshore wind parks are subjected to degradation and surface erosion, releasing sizeable quantities of particle emissions into the environment. A team of researchers led by the Alfred Wegener Institute with the participation of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon has now investigated the effects of these particle on blue mussels – a species also being considered for the multi-use of wind parks for aquaculture. In the experiment, the mussels absorbed metals from the rotor blades’ coatings, as the team describes in a study just released in the journal Science of the Total Environment, where they also discuss the potential physiological effects.
In a laboratory-based pilot study, a team of researchers explored the potential effects of rotor blade emissions on the physiology of blue mussels. To do so, the material from these rotor blades was ground to a particle size small enough for the mussels to ingest. “We exposed the mussels to varying particle concentrations and took samples after predefined exposure durations,” explains Dr Gisela Lannig, the study’s project head and an eco-physiologist at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI). In addition, the researchers carried out physiological measurements to detect metabolic changes in the animals. Tissue samples from the mussels were subsequently tested for inorganic polutants, particularly metals, at the laboratories of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon. “The particular challenge here was to obtain the maximum amount of chemical-analytical information from the relatively small sample quantities available,” says Dr Daniel Pröfrock from the Hereon Institute of Coastal Environmental Chemistry.
The outcomes show that offshore wind parks constitute a new anthropogenic burden for the marine environment: according to the study, the polymer particle emissions from rotor blades, produced by the degradation and surface erosion of the blades’ coatings and core material, should not be underestimated. Mussel species like the blue mussel studied here play a key role in coastal ecosystems. Mussel beds offer e.g. habitats and breeding grounds for a range of marine fauna, promote biodiversity, and, given the animals’ role as filter feeders, preserve water quality.Microplastics and pollutants can accumulate in the animals’ tissues. (Source: Hereon News)
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==> Offshore wind farms harmful to mussels?
Bedulina, D., Lupše, Š.K., Hildebrandt, L., Duan, Y., Klein, O., Primpke, S., Bock, C., Krause, S., Czichon, S., Pröfrock, D., Gerdts, G., & Lannig, G. (2024): Effect of particles from wind turbine blades erosion on blue mussels Mytilus edulis. Sci Total Environ, Vol 957, 177509, doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.177509
Abstract:
Offshore wind farms (OWFs) pose new anthropogenic pressures on the marine environment as the erosion of turbine blades release organic and inorganic substances with potential consequences for marine life. In the present study, possible effects of the released particles and their chemical constituents on the metabolic profile of the blue mussel, Mytilus edulis, were investigated, utilizing 1H NMR spectroscopy. In the lab, mussels were exposed for 7 and 14 days to different concentrations (10 and 40 mg L-1) of microplastic (MP) particles which were derived from cryo-milled rotor blade coatings and core materials (glass fiber polymer, GFP). Raman imaging techniques revealed that 30-40 % of the coating and GFP particles had MP sizes below 5 μm, with the majority (∼98 %) being ≤50 μm. Despite the identified enrichment factors (EF) for metals and metalloids from the rotor blade materials, especially Ba, Cu, Cd, Cr and Ni with EFs between 0.93 and 6.1, untargeted metabolic profiling of the entire soft body tissues of M. edulis showed no significant metabolic disruption, regardless of the particle concentration. Observed trends in elevated concentrations of metabolites may indicate a possible short-term effect on mussels’ neuroendocrine system and a possible long-term effect on energy metabolism. Experimental worst-case scenario of massive abrasion and the minimal response observed in M. edulis under the conditions tested suggest that erosion caused by wind turbine blades may pose little to no risk to bivalves at this stage. However, it is important to note that this study is only a preliminary step and further studies are needed to obtain a comprehensive overview of the issue before reaching a definite firm conclusion regarding the potential threat of OWFs abrasion to the marine environment, particularly considering the planned future extension of windpark construction in connection with the ongoing EU-wide energy transition.
