BES Facebook pageBES Annual Meeting 2010
7 - 9 September,
University of Leeds, UK
Marine Renewable Energy – the ecological implications of altering hydrodynamics
Dr Mark Shields
There are extensive resources of wave and tidal energy within the marine environment and an increasing interest in extracting this energy. Extraction of energy from the marine environment necessitates placing an object or objects within that environment which in turn will modify water flow. Waves and tides have a role in maintaining the shelf sea, coastal, estuarine and shoreline environment and quantitative estimates of "safe limits" of energy extraction and ecological vulnerability are not easily calculated. The aim of the thematic topic is to highlight our current understanding of the ecological effects of altering hydrodynamics in the marine environment.
Keynote speaker:
Professor Jonathan Side, Heriot-Watt University
Highlighting challenges of predicting the ecological effects of the removal of tidal energy (in conditions often exposed to waves) and of the removal of wave energy, the importance of linking metrics of biological change to relevant physical parameters is discussed. In determining what to measure, where and why; the difficulties of distinguishing environmental disturbances, arising as a consequence of climate change, from those occurring in response to the removal of energy are elaborated.
Invited speakers:
Dr Emma Sheehan, University of Plymouth, UK
Dr Robert Batty, Scottish Association for Marine Science, UK
Dr Beth Scott, University of Aberdeen, UK
Dr Graham Savidge, Queen’s University Belfast, UK
If you have any comments or questions about this thematic topic, please contact Mark directly.
