The main goals are the quality-controlled collection, archival and analysis of the Helgoland Roads phytoplankton, zooplankton and physico-chemical time series at Helgoland as well as xxx at
• To continue/establish time series of relevant and representative ecological parameters at different levels of ecosystem organization.
• To create well documented databases and archives of samples and specimens that are accessible to the scientific community.
• To analyze these time series for trends and cycles by means of modern analytical and modelling approaches.
• To relate the observed patterns to external forcing factors on regional and global scales by means of empirical and mechanistic models.
• To establish a cause-and-effect understanding of these relationships by analytical and experimental approaches.
• To model future ecological developments based on the observed relationships between forcing factors and ecological parameters.
• To provide knowledge to the broader scientific community, general public, resource managers, and policy makers to address complex environmental challenges.