Offshore Wind Farms Provide Ideal Habitat for Bottom-Dwelling Species, Study Shows.

A study by Leiden researchers found that offshore wind farms host a hundred times more soil animals and twice the number of different species than the North Sea floor. The foundations of wind turbines are more popular among soil animals than the North Sea floor, as they provide more food and plants can grow undisturbed. The study used data from six wind farms in the North Sea and compared the samples of the seabed life inside the wind farms with the samples taken just outside the farms. However, the study did not include the effect of building wind turbines, which can disorient fish and mammals.