[Marine trophic and socio-ecological networks under pressure: study of the cumulative impact of climate change and offshore wind farm development].

Abstract

In the anthropocene era, one of the greatest challenges facing trophic modeling applied to the marine environment is its ability to couple the multiple effects of both climate change and local anthropogenic activities, notably the development of offshore wind farms. The major challenge is to create scenarios to characterize their cumulative effects on the functioning of the entire socio-ecological system, in order to propose appropriate management plans. Although modeling cumulative impact on socio-ecological networks is not yet widely used, data reported in the present review article show that the relevance of this approach could be established in the context of offshore wind power. Two modeling procedures are herein described: quantitative mathematical modelling to simulate the effect of two simultaneous pressures on food network properties, and qualitative modelling, which can be based on a participatory approach to more finely characterize feedback loops between governance and ecological systems. These two quantitative and qualitative scenarios modeling methods, based on interaction network analyses, were applied to the future Courseulles-sur-Mer offshore wind farm (eastern Channel), and to the Groix-Belle-Ile pilot wind farm (Atlantic). Finally, we present a research perspective, based on the Sato-Umi concept, which focuses on modeling frameworks combining ecosystem network evolution scenarios and an increased capacity for collective action.