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Helgoland Roads, North Sea: 45 Years of Change

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Abstract

The Helgoland Roads time series is one of the richest temporal marine data sets available. Running since 1962, it documents changes for phytoplankton, salinity, Secchi disc depths and macronutrients. Uniquely, the data have been carefully quality controlled and linked to relevant meta-data, and the pelagic time series is further augmented by zooplankton, intertidal macroalgae, macro-zoobenthos and bacterioplankton data. Data analyses have shown changes in hydrography and biota around Helgoland. In the late 1970s, water inflows from the south-west to the German Bight increased with a corresponding increase in flushing rates. Salinity and annual mean temperature have also increased since 1962 and the latter by an average of 1.67°C. This has influenced seasonal phytoplankton growth causing significant shifts in diatom densities and the numbers of large diatoms (e. g. Coscinodiscus wailesii). Changes in zooplankton diversity have included the appearance of the ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi. The macroalgal community also showed an increase in green algal and a decrease in brown algal species after 1959. Over 30 benthic macrofaunal species have been newly recorded at Helgoland over the last 20 years, with a distinct shift towards southern species. These detailed data provide the basis for long-term analyses of changes on many trophic levels at Helgoland Roads.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank all the people who have ensured that the Helgoland Roads time series has been kept alive over the past 45 years. These people range from the crews of the research vessels, counting personnel, people who carried out taxonomic investigations and those who did the chemical analyses. We also thank the State Agency for Nature and Environment (LLUR) of Schleswig-Holstein for their continued support. We also thank those who had the foresight to archive the data and set up models.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biologische Anstalt Helgoland, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, P.O. Box 180, 27483, Helgoland, Germany

    Karen Helen Wiltshire, Alexandra Kraberg, Maarten Boersma, Heinz-Dieter Franke, Christina Gebühr, Gunnar Gerdts & Antje Wichels

  2. School of Engineering and Science, Jacobs University Bremen, Campus Ring 1, 28759, Bremen, Germany

    Karen Helen Wiltshire

  3. Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, P.O. Box 12 01 61, 27515, Bremerhaven, Germany

    Inka Bartsch

  4. ICBM, University of Oldenburg, P.O. Box 2503, 26111, Oldenburg, Germany

    Jan Freund

  5. Institute for Coastal Research, GKSS Research Centre, Max-Planck-Straße 1, 21502, Geesthacht, Germany

    Karina Stockmann

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  1. Karen Helen Wiltshire
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  2. Alexandra Kraberg
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  3. Inka Bartsch
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Correspondence to Karen Helen Wiltshire.

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Wiltshire, K.H., Kraberg, A., Bartsch, I. et al. Helgoland Roads, North Sea: 45 Years of Change. Estuaries and Coasts 33, 295–310 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-009-9228-y

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