Study site and sampling procedure
German Bight and the island Helgoland. Photo: GKSS
In 1963, the Biologische Anstalt Helgoland (BAH) initiated a series of mostly daily measurements and water sampling at Helgoland Roads (station ‘‘Kabeltonne’’; 54°11.3’N, 07°54.0’E), directly offshore the island Helgoland.
The recorded data include physico-chemical (temperature, salinity, Secchi-depth, phosphate, nitrate, nitrite, ammonium, silicate), as well as biological parameters (phyto-, zoo- and bacterioplancton).
Workflow of the sample processing at the BAH-AWI.
In February 2009 we started to collect bacterial biomass for the MIMAS archive (www.mimas-project.de). About 200-300 L seawater are sampled weekly with the MB Diker at Helgoland Roads and sequentially filtered on 10 µm, 3 µm and finally 0.2 µm membrane filters. Based on the LTER (Long Term Ecological Research) data and FISH counts (Fluorescence in situ hybridization), samples, representative for certain ecosystem states (for instance, algal blooms) will be chosen and analyzed in depth using molecular tools from the “...omics” family.
