Offshore Wind Turbines May Reshape Atlantic Seafloor Food Webs
A research-stage model suggests turbine foundations could shift seafloor ecosystems toward more stable food webs over the coming years.
Updated on Nov. 6, 2026 in Environmental
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Researchers led by Kim Lato at BRI published a modeling study in Scientific Reports examining how offshore wind development could reshape marine food webs in the U.S. Atlantic. The work, the first from BRI's project on offshore wind effects on U.S. marine ecosystems, is a research-stage model rather than an established finding.
Why it matters
Turbine foundations add hard surfaces to environments that are mostly soft sediment, changing which species can settle and how energy moves through the system. Because offshore wind is expanding along the U.S. Atlantic Coast, the models offer an early look at ecosystem changes that could follow across the national build-out.
The analysis rests on three modeled U.S. Atlantic sites and a comparison window of about four years after construction. The authors flag that data on microbes and organic matter recycling is too thin to model with confidence.
The players
Kim Lato
Lead author of the study, working with the Bigelow Research Institute team on offshore wind effects on marine ecosystems.
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority
State energy agency that funds the Projecting the Effects of Offshore Wind-Mediated Benthic Changes project.
The details
Offshore wind turbine foundations act as artificial reefs, giving mussels, barnacles and other invertebrates surfaces to colonize where soft seabed once dominated. The team combined existing ecological data into food web models, which map who eats whom and how energy and nutrients pass between species. Sediment-dwelling invertebrates, the animals living in and on the seafloor, emerged as especially important to these dynamics. Bivalves such as mussels were the most influential group among organisms associated with the turbine structures.
Timeline
Approximately four years after construction: post-construction conditions compared against pre-construction food web models
November 6, 2026: study coverage published by azocleantech.com
The Tech Race
This first publication from BRI's offshore wind benthic project establishes a modeling baseline for U.S. Atlantic sites. It sets up follow-on work on the microbial and nutrient-recycling gaps the authors identified.
The findings are model projections, so they do not yet change how offshore wind is permitted or operated. Coastal residents and fishing communities may eventually see shifts in local seafloor life, but the study does not set a timeline for those changes.
The takeaway
Offshore wind may push marine food webs toward more mature, stable states while changing how energy moves through them. Watch for follow-on BRI publications that fill the microbial and organic matter data gaps the authors identified.
Further reading
For more on how energy infrastructure intersects with ocean ecosystems, explore Environmental coverage.
More information
Read the peer-reviewed Scientific Reports study on offshore wind and food webs.
Source note: This article includes information reported by AZoCleantech.
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