Monitoring of pollutants with seabirds in the Wadden Sea (TMAP)

Project description:

Marine birds have proven themselves as bioindicators for the marine environment in many ways. Since 1981, Prof. Dr Peter H. Becker from the Institute for Bird Research in Wilhelmshaven has carried out studies on the contamination of seabirds with environmental chemicals on the German Wadden Sea coast. Since 1985, egg samples of the two indicator species common tern and oystercatcher have been continuously taken from selected sites in the German Wadden Sea and, since 1998, also in the International Wadden Sea and chemically analysed for environmental chemical residues. Since 1999, the chemical analysis of various environmental chemicals (e.g. Hg, various PCB congeners, DDT and metabolites, HCB, HCH isomers, chlordane and nonachlorine compounds) has been based at the ICBM-Terramare research centre. Since 2014, the entire logistical organisation and evaluation of the entire project has also been carried out by the Environmental Biochemistry working group, headed by Prof. Dr. Peter Schupp.

Fig. 1: Common tern: breeding pair on the left, clutch of three eggs on the right (photo D. Frank, P. Becker).

At the end of the 1980s, the project was developed into a monitoring project, which has been funded by the TMAP (Trilateral Monitoring and Assessment Programme) throughout the Wadden Sea since 1998. With a data series that now spans 30 years, the project has one of the longest and best sources of information on the chemical contamination of biota in the Wadden Sea with mercury and organohalogens, as well as the logistical experience required to carry out the monitoring programme, which includes the rapid availability of results.

Fig. 2: Oystercatcher: adult birds foraging on the left (photo R. Nagel) and on the right the development of PCB residues (ng/g fresh weight) in oyster fisheries from 1991 to 2015 in the Jade Bay.

This project also provides the logistical basis for other fundamental studies on the significance of environmental chemicals not only for marine birds (e.g. Goutner et al. 2015).

The following questions are at the centre of the project:

• Time trends of contamination
• Spatial trends of contamination
• Species differences in contamination
• Variation in contaminant patterns (composition of PCB congener mixtures, DDT and metabolites)
• Possible threat to species due to current pollutant concentrations

The results go the Wadden Sea states as commissioners and to data banks (Wadden Sea, MUDABA) and are used as an early warning system. The guidelines for the project have been adopted in international concepts for monitoring (Ecological Quality Objectives, ICES, OSPAR).

Spectrum of existing pollutant analyses:

• Hg
• various PCB congeners
• DDT and metabolites
• HCB
• HCH isomers
• Chlordane and nonachlorine compounds

Co-operations

If you are interested in pollutant analyses, please contact

Prof Dr Peter Schupp, ICBM, University of Oldenburg: peter.schupp@uol.de

Third-party funding:
The Wadden Sea states, The Netherlands, Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and Denmark. TMAP Program runs since 1998 and will continues at least until 2028.

Selected publications:

Becker, P.H. & J. Muñoz Cifuentes (2005): Contaminants in Bird Eggs: Recent spatial and temporal trends. Wadden Sea Ecosystem No. 18, 5-25, Common Wadden Sea Secretariat, Wilhelmshaven.

Becker PH, Dittmann T (2009) Contaminants in Bird Eggs. Thematic Report No. 5.2. In: Marencic, H. & Vlas, J. de (Eds), Quality Status Report 2009. WaddenSea Ecosystem No. 25. Common Wadden Sea Secretariat, Trilateral Monitoring and Assessment Group, Wilhelmshaven, Germany.

Dittmann T, Becker PH, Bakker J, Bignert A, Nyberg E, Pereira MG, Pijanowska U, Shore R, Stienen EWM, Toft GO, Marencic H (2011) The EcoQO on mercury and organohalogens in coastal bird eggs: report on the pilot study 2008-2010. INBO.R.2011.43, Research Institute for Nature and Forest, Brussel, 72 pp

Dittmann T, Becker PH (2012): Environmental quality objectives for the contamination of eggs of marine bird species of the North Sea with mercury and organochlorine compounds. Hazardous Substances - Air Pollution Control 72: 139-144

Dittmann T, Becker PH, Bakker J, Bignert A, Nyberg E, Pereira, MG, Pijanowska U, Shore R, Stienen EWM, Toft GO, Marencic H (2012) Large-scale spatial pollution patterns around the North Sea indicated by coastal bird eggs within an EcoQO programme. Environmental Science and Pollution Research 19:4060-4072; DOI: 10.1007/s11356-012-1070-2

Goutner V, Bakaloudis DE, Papakosta M, Vlachos CG, Mattig FR, Pijanowska U, Becker PH (2015) Organochlorine and mercury residues in eggs of the lesser kestrel(Falco naumanni) from a long term study in an easter Mediterranean colony. Environ Pollut 207: 196-204

Goutner V, Becker PH, Liordos V (2011) Organochlorines and mercury in livers of great cormorant(Phalacrocorax carbo) wintering in wetlands of north-eastern Mediterranean in relation to area, bird age and gender. Science Total Environ 409: 710-718, DOI 0.1016/j.scitotenv.2010.10.043

Mattig FR, Pijanowska U, Becker PH (2014) Thirty-two years of Monitoring Pollutants with Seabirds in the Wadden Sea. Wader Study Group Bull 121 (2): 70