Increasing water temperatures facilitate the establishment of non-native species and associated parasites and diseases. Currently, solid coastal protection structures are being enlarged in response to a rising sea level whereas numerous offshore wind turbines are constructed to intensify the use of renewable energy. This leads to a huge amount of artificial hard structures. These are colonized by native and non-native sessile species, which normally would be habitat-limited in the primarily sedimentary southern North Sea. Thus, the combined effects of warming,the introduction of non-native species and the construction of artificial hard substrates are main drivers for current changes in species and habitat diversity in the North Sea. So far, however, this development has no drastical implications for the ecosystem of the North Sea and the Wadden Sea.