Species and synonym list of the German marine - Institut für ...

that exact ecophysiological knowledge of most rare or supposedly extinct species is
missing and impede to draw specific conclusions.
The Wadden Sea
The knowledge about marine macroalgae of the German Wadden Sea and its
presence on secondary hard substrates has never been in the focus of German
algologists, although several authors have focused on the species composition of
intertidal and subtidal benthic associations (NIENBURG 1927, LINKE 1939). Species
richness and the availability of substrates are similar between the Northern and
Eastern Frisian Wadden Sea. Observed differences are most probably related to the
restricted research in the intertidal and subtidal mudflats and its existent hard
substrata. Historical trends seem to be same between both areas and only differ in
magnitude. This facilitates a joint historical overview: More than a hundred years ago,
the first curator of botany at the Marine Station on Helgoland (Biologische Anstalt
Helgoland) PAUL KUCKUCK (1866–1918), carried out some excursions to the
Wadden Sea and noted his records in a field diary. These records give us the first
insights about the presence of macroalgae species on intertidal mudflats in the
former century. Twenty years before KUCKUCK, EIBEN (1871) had already studied
the macroalgae associations on artificial structures like dikes and buoys.
During the subsequent decades various authors studied macroalgae locally,
for example in the vicinities of the Königshafen of the island Sylt (NIENBURG 1927,
KORNMANN 1952, LUTHER 1976, SCHORIES et al 1997) or in the Weser estuary (LINKE
1939, BEHRE 1961, MICHAELIS 1969, KOEMAN 1975). During the 1980s KOEMAN & VAN
DEN HOEK (1982a, b, 1984) studied the taxonomy of the genus Enteromorpha in the
Netherlands but samples were also taken from Germany. At the end of the 1980s
green algae mats covered wide areas of the East & North Frisian Wadden Sea
(REISE & SIEBERT 1994, SCHANZ & REISE 2005, REISE et al. 2008). Single mats
covered up to 9 km 2 in the East Frisian Wadden Sea. Early information about
macroalgae in the subtidal channels and deeper waters were often provided due to
the harvest of mussels and oysters (HAGMEIER & KÄNDLER 1927, HAGMEIER 1941),
however natural banks had already declined significantly by the 1850s (MOEBUIS
1877, GESSNER 1957). Riffs built by the polychaete Sabellaria spinulosa might have
been important substrates for algae growth but today nearly all riffs have
disappeared (EIBEN 1871, VORBERG 2005). Due to this phenomenon green algae
distribution and identification has been studied in more detail (KOLBE et al. 1995,
SCHORIES 1995). Nevertheless our knowledge about macroalgae distribution in the
Wadden Sea remains a patchwork. Additions to the actual check list are almost
certain if future investigations concentrate on the low subtidal channels and
secondary hard substrata (VLAS et al. 2005).
Baltic Sea
First algae collections for the German coastal waters of the Baltic Sea go back
to the year 1819 (LYNGBYE 1819). At the end of the 19th Century REINKE (1889)
summarized the previous activities of material collected since 1819. He noted
critically that many species had been incorrectly identified and were subsequently
corrected by him. His work on the algal flora of the western Baltic Sea built together
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