Research on Antarctic macroalgae began with the expeditions of Gaudichaud, Bory, Montagne, Hooker and Harvey as early as 1817 (Godley 1965). A second notable period in the exploration of macroalgae from the Southern Ocean and the cold-temperate regions of South America was around the turn of the 19th to the 20th century. The most important studies during this time were conducted by Hariot, Reinsch, Gain, Skottsberg and Kylin (Wiencke & Clayton 2002). These taxonomic and biogeographical studies enabled Papenfuss (1964) to produce the first catalogue of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic benthic marine macroalgae. The introduction of SCUBA diving into the methodological portfolio by Neushul (1965), Zaneveld (1966a, b, 1968) and Delépine et al. (1966) opened a new era. Later on, Moe (Moe & DeLaca 1976), Lamb & Zimmermann (1976), Amsler (Amsler et al., 1995) and Klöser and co-workers (Klöser et al. 1996) conducted numerous diving studies allowing for the first time more precise descriptions of the depth distribution of Antarctic macroalgae. In subsequent years a major attempt was made to investigate the life history of Antarctic species (Wiencke et al. 2007). In this period scientific knowledge of Antarctic macroalgae was considerably broadened and the first monograph of these ecologically important species was compiled (Wiencke & Clayton 2002). Moreover, in-depth studies on the physiological thallus anatomy (Wiencke et al. 2007), phenology (Wiencke et al. 2011) as well as on the temperature and light requirements (Gómez et al. 2011, Wiencke & Amsler 2012) of Antarctic species became possible. Detailed investigations on trophic relations between macroalgae and herbivores began in the last decade of the 20th century (Iken 1996, 1999). Recent studies focus on the defenses between macroalgae and herbivores, defences against diatom fouling (Amsler et al. 2005a, 2008, 2011, Iken et al. 2011, Wiencke & Amsler 2012) as well as on the effect of global climate changes on geographic distribution (Müller et al. 2011) and depth zonation (Zacher et al. 2007a, Campana et al. 2011).