Helgoland and the surrounding areas we contribute to the understanding of the ecosystem of the North Sea and support governmental responsibilities in marine conservation. OASIS is integrated in POF-IV [...] funding the long-term monitoring program „ O bserv a tion and Evaluation of the S chleswig-Holste i n North S ea Coastal Benthic Ecosystem – OASIS“ on the dynamics of benthic habitats of the rocky island of

understand natural fluctuations and directed climatic changes in benthic communities in the North Sea. In the German North Sea, the animal communities of the seafloor experience substantial interannual fluctuations

SeaKey – Identification of Seaweeds of the German North Sea Coast [Translate to English:] Concept of SeaKey (Photo: Alfred-Wegener-Institut) Enable identification of seaweeds for variable stakeholders [...] order to support marine biodiversity assessment The project SeaKey develops a scientific identification key for ‘Seaweeds of the German North Sea coast’ in three parts, for brown algae, red algae and green [...] under seaweeds.awi.de The key consists of a webkey (usable as desktop version or via the App SeaKey) and downloadable and printable documents – the ‘Identification Key’ itself and the ‘Additional

of benthic primary producers and their associated organisms. Our geographical focus is on the North Sea and the European Arctic. Through large-scale comparative studies, we assess the plasticity of species [...] community dynamics of inter- and subtidal rocky shores and adjacent seabed biotopes ( OASIS , FACE-IT , SeaKey ). We investigate experimentally adaptation strategies to current and future seawater temperatures [...] society ( Nordseebüro ). Rocky coast ecology is included in POF-IV in Subtopics 4.2 / 6.1 / 6.2 Projekte SeaKey KELPRIME OASIS Team Inka Bartsch Lars Gutow Andreas Wagner Claudia Daniel Tosia Schmithüsen Luisa

Anthropogenic impacts on particulate organic carbon cycling in the North Sea [Translate to English:] Automatisierte in-situ Messung durch ein benthisches Absatzgestell. (Photo: Alfred-Wegener-Institut) [...] APOC is to investigate the transport and accumulation of particulate organic carbon within the North Sea and how anthropogenic activities might alter the potential for carbon sequestration in marine sediments [...] hydrodynamics, but our ability to predict sedimentation processes is limited especially in the North Sea. Additionally, anthropogenic activities, such as bottom trawling, can alter POC sedimentation, releasing

understand the structure and function of an ecosystem. Research AnthroTOP Anthropogenic uses in the North Sea: Impacts on marine top predators Human activities have various, mostly negative, impacts on marine [...] uses is crucial. In AnthroTop, we are using models to predict how different use scenarios in the North Sea might affect the distribution of marine top predators and what this might mean for marine ecosystems [...] Funding: Bundesamt für Naturschutz CRANMAN II Scientific studies on the biology and fisheries of the North Sea shrimp CRANgon crangon as the basis for an efficient self-MANagement system Catch of the brown shrimp

the past few decades – due to the reduced sea-ice cover on the Arctic Ocean in summer, to higher water and air temperatures, and to rising sea levels. Less sea ice means e.g. that winds produce larger waves [...] in the Arctic is insulated by water and sea ice, one might assume there was no permafrost there. But guess again: at the bottom of certain shallow coastal seas, the ground is permanently frozen. This type [...] there was so much water frozen in the massive inland ice sheets of Scandinavia and North America that in some places, the sea level was 120 metres lower than today. Where now we see ocean waves, there was

oceans. Even in the most remote parts of the ocean, like the polar regions or the bottom of the deep sea, we can find large amounts of plastic debris that have accumulated over the past few decades. Tiny [...] traps: marine debris (Photo: Alfred-Wegener-Institut) The debris is everywhere The debris found in our seas is a diverse mix composed of various materials, but the scientific findings paint a clear picture: [...] majority originates from shipping and fishing. However, litter is not just dumped directly into the sea; large amounts are carried there by rivers. This plastic debris is mostly packaging. Initially, packaging

Gloabal Change than other oceans. Sea ice strongly decraeses, temperatures rise at least twice as much, acidification and, the influence of warmer water from the North Atlantic is increasing ('Altantification') [...] relatively high proportion of biomass was being observed, the proportion of biomass in central Arctic, sea ice covered waters is relatively low. Team work P lankton E cology and B iogeochemistry in a C hanging

biotopes in Germany’s Exclusive Economic Zone in the North Sea. Contact partner: Dr Jan Beermann Long-term monitoring of macroalgae and seagrass in the Wadden Sea Seagrass meadows are highly productive coastal [...] Research projects Distribution of benthic communities in the North Sea The EU’s Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) obligates member states to monitor the status and development of biotic communities [...] long-term development of seagrass stocks. While the seagrass meadows in the north of the Schleswig-Holstein area of the Wadden Sea have grown considerably since 1994, unfortunately no such recovery can be