Contaminants in bird eggs in the Wadden sea

Description:

After the pilot study in 1996 and 1997, the parameter "Contaminants in Bird Eggs" was fully and successfully implemented within the Trilateral Monitoring and Assessment Program (TMAP) in 1998. Since 1999, the entire Wadden Sea from Balgzand in the western Dutch Wadden Sea to Langli in the Danish northern Wadden Sea has been covered by 13 sampling sites to monitor spatial and temporal trends in contamination of coastal birds. Residues of the heavy metal mercury and of the organochlorines PCBs, DDT and metabolites, HCB, HCH isomers and chlordanes (trans-chlordan, cis-chlordan, trans-nonachlor, and cis-nonachlor) were analyzed in Common Tern Sterna hirundo and Oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus eggs. Sampling and analyses were carried out according to standardized methods and guidelines (JAMP, OSPAR) tested successfully in previous years. The parameter profits from similar former studies in the German Wadden Sea back to 1981, now allowing the analysis of time trends over two decades (1981-2000). Main focus of the report is the spatial pattern of the recent contamination in 2000 covering the entire Wadden Sea and the temporal trend during the last decade.

subjects: Environmental monitoring

Places: Netherlands,  Waddenzee Region,  Germany,  North Sea Coast,  Denmark