The Venue

Situated in the middle of the German Bight, approximately 50 to 60 kilometres off the mainland, the island of Helgoland is an ecological gem that has fascinated marine researchers for nearly two centuries. The scientist Johannes Müller founded the discipline of plankton research on Helgoland in 1846. Evolution scientist Ernst Haeckel carried out his, now famous, taxonomic studies of marine animals on and around the island. The Biologische Anstalt Helgoland was founded in 1892, and is since 1998 part of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research. 

Coastal seas are highly variable environments, with variation on all time scales from seconds to decades, and spatial scales from mm to km. Organisms living in such zones should be adapted to this large variation, but potentially not to the changes that are currently taking place in our coastal seas. Thus, coastal organisms represent the ideal case to contrast the effects of natural and non-natural variation in a multiple-stressor approach. The research on Helgoland puts the responses of individual organisms and species to these stressors, both in terms of physiology, ecology and evolution, into a population and community context. Our work comprises observational and experimental approaches. Using the Helgoland Roads Ecological Time Series and other long-term observational data, we generate and develop hypotheses on the impacts of ecological stressors on individuals and communities that are then tested experimentally in set-ups of different scales. Ultimately, we aim to understand and predict the effects on anthropogenic pressure on our shelf sea communities.

The stations’ educational infrastructure - course and seminar rooms - is regularly used for university practical courses and field excursions, scientific workshops, and seminars. As such,the Biologische Anstalt Helgoland is very well-suited to host Woodstoich 5. Participants will be housed in the Wilhelm-Mielck guest house, and will have access to the working spaces available for guest scientists. 

Getting Here