Impact of secondary hard substrate on the distribution and abundance of Aurelia aurita in the western Baltic Sea

This study assessed the impact of secondary hard substrate, as being introduced into marine ecosystems by the establishment of wind farm pillars, on the occurrence and distribution of the moon jelly Aurelia aurita in the southwestern Baltic Sea. A two-year data sampling was conducted with removable settlement plates to assess the distribution and population development of the scyphozoan polyps. The data collected from these samples were used to set up a model with Lagrangian particle technique. The results confirm that anthropogenic created hard substrate (e.g. offshore wind farms) has the potential to increase the abundance of the A. aurita population. The distribution of wind farm borne jellyfish along Danish, German and Polish coasts indicates conflicts with further sectors, mainly energy and tourism.