Helgoland and the history of research on marine benthic algae. Early phycological research on the island of Helgoland was performed by amateur phycologists from the adjacent coastal regions of Germany (Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein). These pioneers were followed by professionals, and by collectors from the mainland universities, particularly from Berlin. This second phase group includes the naturalist Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg, the zoologists Johannes Mfiller, Ernst Haeckel and Anton Dohrn, and the botanists Alexander Braun, Nathanael Pringsheim, and Ferdinand Cohn.