For a long time scientists thought that communities living on the sea floor around Antarctica are adapted to a stable environment and unable to cope with changes in environmental conditions. This historical belief was based on stable and low temperatures, constant salinity and near-bottom currents as well as the relatively deep continental shelf. Latest findings show that the Antarctic Peninsula has experienced significant atmospheric warming over recent years. For a better understanding on how impacted marine communities develop we need to increase our knowledge of ecosystem functioning and diversity. Only then can we estimate consequences of extensive environmental changes.

Patchiness of settlement on the sea floor over large areas is correlated with differences in food abundance which is varying in time and space. Near-bottom currents are sufficient for widespread distribution of food particles from algal blooms even under the ice-shelf. The composition of the sediment cannot explain the dominance of sessile bottom-dwellers such as sponges, sea squirts and bryozoans (moss animals), grazing animals like starfish and brittle stars, or certain sea cucumbers and bristle worms that live within the sediment. Specific adaptations allow for a wide distribution of different species on mixed sediments. Only pure soft sediments in sheltered bays or adjacent rock support almost "monoculture" of certain species.
The Polarstern-expedition will be a main contributor to Census of Antarctic Marine Life (CAML) an international project being part of the project EBA (Evolution and Biodiversity in the Antarctic) of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). Another aspect of the expedition will focus on the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources  (CCAMLR).  A bottom trawl survey around Elephant Island, the South Shetland Islands and off Joinville Island at the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula is part of the expedition. The survey will provide insight in the composition of the demersal fish fauna around the three island groups. It will enable us to collect additional information relatively early in the season, and provide samples for stock discrimination and pollutant levels, as well as stock size of the most abundant fish species such as marbled notothenia.

Paramount importance will be underwater photography and underwater videography in conjunction with a whole variety of traditional sampling techniques e.g. grab-sampling and net-sampling as well as physical measurements i.e. temperature and salinity. The deployment of a ROV (remotely operated vehicle) equipped with a video camera, high-resolution deep-sea still camera, and video-equipped corers. High quality pictures and video footage are not only used for scientific questions but also regarded the best media to convey information on scientific content to the public.
A science journalist will accompagny the Polarstern-expedition and will make contact between scientist on board and the public.
The Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) conducts research in the Arctic, Antarctic and in oceans of temperate and high latitudes. The AWI coordinates polar research in Germany, and provides important infrastructure, such as the research icebreaker ‘Polarstern’ and stations in the Arctic and Antarctic, for international science organisations. The AWI is one of 15 research centres of the 'Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft' (Helmholtz Association), the largest scientific organisation in Germany.

1. Sample and analyse to-date unknown communities under former ice-shelf areas which are virtually in its undisturbed state due to slow biological development. This includes analyses of ecologically relevant physical key parameters (geochemistry, sedimentology, hydrodynamics, etc) to determine physiological and genetic adaptations especially with regard to food availability. Particularly promising is a mud volcano found in this area where the community is not fuelled by the sun’s energy and photosynthesis but by bacteria that use the energy of chemical compounds.
2. Investigate early recolonisation stages of previously unavailable substrate due to ice-shelf cover by means of visual methods.
3. Examine what impact enhanced iceberg-scouring due to collapsing ice-shelves has on biodiversity and community structure. Results will also allow predicting the outcome of an unusually undisturbed environment as ice-shelves (source of icebergs) are no longer existent.
4. Determine whether the collapse of ice-shelves and subsequent alterations of physical conditions e.g. near-bottom currents has already brought about changes in biodiversity. Furthermore, investigations of pelagic-benthic coupling i.e. the relationship between seafloor communities and ecological processes in the overlying water masses will be conducted.
5. Using sampling techniques along a gradient of decreasing food supply will provide an insight into the minimum amount of food needed by filter feeders e.g. sponges, bryozoans (moss animals), and sea anemones to survive and reproduce and their ability to colonise certain habitats. A decrease in food availability can lead to decrease in species richness. The hypothesis that critical environmental factors are particularly crucial for juveniles can be tested.
6. An approach to model such climate induced shift in biodiversity from an ecosystem that is mainly shaped by sea-ice to an ecosystem dependent algal blooms in the water column.
7. During the census of large marine mammals, especially whales, particular attention will be given to the difference of the eastern and western side of the Antarctic Peninsula in terms of their abundance and species composition.