FLOWBEC - FLOW and Benthic Ecology 4D

The FLOWBEC project aims to improve the understanding of how the physical behaviour of the water such as currents, waves and turbulence at tide and wave energy sites influences the behaviour of marine wildlife, and how tide and wave energy devices might alter the behaviour of such wildlife.

Project Aims

  1. To improve understanding of the fine scale details of the flow regime in areas of high tidal and wave energy and the effects of Marine Renewable Energy Devices (MREDs) on flow conditions
  1. To assess the hydrodynamic habitat preferences of various relevant functional ecological groups (benthos, plankton, fish, birds & mammals), and how individual species may use preferred flow conditions for successful feeding, reproduction and other major biological activities.
  1. To parameterize the flowfield with and without the effects of both single and multiple MRED deployments and include the mechanistic links to ecological interactions that would enable their inclusion in wider area models and to be developed to allow predictions of large arrays of devices on the environment.

Project Website: 

Principal Investigator: 

Research Institutes: 

  • Energy Systems

Research Themes: 

  • Offshore Renewable Energy

Last modified: 

Thursday, May 13, 2021 - 16:53