Bachelor's degree programme in Environmental Sciences, 34 pages (first author)

The aim of the study in Wilhelmshaven and Dangast was to obtain initial data on bench litter in tourist locations. It was found that, with almost 5000 items collected from a total of 72 seating areas, there is significantly more bench waste at the locations than expected. An average of 50 items per bench were found in Wilhelmshaven and 42 in Dangast over the entire period. Around 75 % of the rubbish collected was cigarette butts. Furthermore, it was mainly paper items such as handkerchiefs and serviettes, plastic in the form of cutlery and sweets wrappers as well as crown caps that were found. The collection revealed that specific items were left as rubbish on the benches for walkers after use.

Although litter bins have a positive effect on the amount of litter in the area of the benches, the number of items of litter is higher in the area of highly frequented benches than on low-frequented benches, as was shown by the ex-post analysis of the frequency of use. The positive effect of the benches can be neutralised by other, negative factors.

As the collection days were irregularly distributed throughout the week and other influences on the number of pieces of litter found cannot be ruled out, the influence of cleaning the area around the benches and emptying the bins could not be recorded. However, the high number of rubbish items collected during the survey on the first day, which was similar to an area clean-up, shows that the "rubbish level" is very high at both locations. Many items, especially smaller ones such as cigarette butts, are not removed by the rubbish collectors and remain on the ground permanently. The extent to which these then end up in the sea during storms or through the wind is another interesting question.

Waste can only be reduced with the help of the polluters. Awareness-raising measures, both among visitors and among the operators of nearby shops, are necessary for this. The large amount of cigarette butts found in the area around the benches in this study requires special measures, such as the installation of fireproof litter bins.
The investigation revealed that other factors that were not measured have an influence on the amount of litter. In this context, the frequency of use in particular should be surveyed in order to increase the number of litter bins at particularly highly frequented locations until the amount of litter produced can be reduced by other measures.

Abstract
The sources of marine litter are diverse. One of it is the tourism, which implies a high amount of people at one place close to the oceans. By collection and categorization of litter items with the OSPAR Guideline at benches in two touristic places in northwestern Germany, this source of marine litter is analyze. It shows that walkers who rest at the benches leave a big amount of litter there. Almost 5000 items were collected in this study. Approximately 75% of the litter are cigarette butts, following by tissues and napkins, plastic products like cutlery and sweet packets as well as metal bottle caps.
Furthermore, the influence of trashcans near the benches on the amount of litter items was investigate. Data shows that not just trashcans but also other effects have an even bigger impact on the amount of litter items.
To reduce this litter there is a need to take action.

Bachelor's degree programme in Environmental Sciences, 69 pages (first author)

In the course of the upcoming renewal of the foreshore management plan for the area of the Deichacht Norden, investigations were carried out in the Lütetsburg and Westerneßm summer polders on the attractiveness of the summer polders for guest birds, depending on the degree of moisture of the areas. The two summer polders are part of the Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park and an EU bird sanctuary. According to the National Park Act, the areas should be in a good conservation status and serve as a bird sanctuary for wild bird species. The special feature of the two summer polders is that winter waterlogging of the areas is prescribed in the foreshore management plan. This takes place through targeted flooding of the polders through sluices in the summer dyke.

In this study, recommendations were developed for winter rewetting of the summer polders to enhance their value as a habitat for guest birds. To this end, pendate counts were carried out in winter 2016/17 depending on the moisture content of the areas. This moisture resulting from the waterlogging was categorised and the attractiveness of the areas for guest birds was worked out as a function of this.

It was found that the geese, which occur in large numbers, prefer dry areas on the one hand and areas with large areas of waterlogging on the other as guest bird habitats. For ducks, the large-scale waterlogging of the areas was a clear enhancement of the summer polders. The limicoles showed a diverse picture and songbirds favoured the dry conditions of the areas.

It is recommended that the sub-areas be flooded at different times. This would allow the rare exceedances of the tidal heights required to wet the summer polders to be optimally utilised in order to cover the areas for as long as possible. This would simultaneously provide roosting, resting and feeding areas for the guest birds. In addition, in the Westerneßmer summer polder, blanks, such as those already present in the more attractive Lütetsburg summer polder, should be created in order to enhance the areas even at low moisture levels.

Bachelor programme Environmental Sciences, 22 pages (first reviewer)

Using WorldView-2 satellite data an image segmentation and classification was performed on imagery of a mangrove dominated coastal area in Brazil. A vegetation/non-vegetation discrimination with good accuracy was realised and steps to a complete classification to the species level shown. The finished classification map will be used by V. Helfer (ZMT Bremen) to study community distribution and dominance of mangroves.

Bachelor's degree programme in Environmental Sciences, 69 pages (first reviewer)

The island of Spiekeroog was formed about 8000 years ago by the development of the North German coastal area in the course of sea level fluctuations. Much later, about 400 years ago, the formation of the Spiekeroog East Plateau, the study area of the bachelor thesis, began. The formation of dunes on the eastern plateau only began in the last 75 years or so. Due to the lack of a dune chain, the study area was initially flooded again and again, both from the direction of the open sea and from the direction of the back tidal flats.

In the course of the bachelor thesis, the flooding frequency of Spiekeroog's eastern plateau along a salt marsh transect was determined using the results from the grain size analyses, determinations of the loss on ignition and diatom analyses. Depending on the origin of the flooding events, the diatom communities differed due to the fact that diatoms react very sensitively to salinity fluctuations. Marine species, which mainly live in the littoral, characterised the transgressive phases of the sea, i.e. marine flooding, in the cores studied. In particular, these were characterised by an increased occurrence of planktonic diatoms, especially Paralia sulcata . In contrast, deposits that were washed up from the direction of the back tidal flats mainly contained benthic species. Examples of benthic species include Diploneis didyma and Navicula perigrina , which were very common in all four cores analysed. In addition to a large number of fragments, the presence of Diploneis didyma was also an important indication of relocations. Brackish species, on the other hand, indicated lagoonal sediments or salt marsh deposits. The latter are also characterised in the cores by aerophilic littoral species such as Diploneis interrupta . The higher areas of such salt marshes were increasingly characterised by oligohalobic species, a sign of decreasing marine influence and an increased freshwater supply.

In addition to the diatom composition, the grain size composition and the loss on ignition also provided information about the flooding frequency. Based on the three parameters mentioned, the short cores analysed could be divided into the eulittoral and the supralittoral. The transition from the eulittoral to the supralittoral is characterised not only by a decrease in grain size but also by an increase in the loss on ignition. However, the core Dünenfuß was an exception in the investigations carried out, as was core SW 3 with regard to the loss on ignition.

Bachelor's degree programme in Environmental Sciences, 57 pages (first reviewer)

In general, it is clear that the Wadden Sea region is facing far-reaching changes. The problem here does not seem to be that there are no ways of guaranteeing coastal protection and combining it with nature conservation, but that a massive rethink is needed, especially in Germany. A softening of the massive defence will inevitably have to take place wherever possible if the Wadden Sea is to be preserved in its current form and with its current functions. The sea will increasingly have to "claim its rights" along the entire coast and be granted them. In fact, however, this can contribute to the successful integration of coastal protection and nature conservation without sacrificing the protection of the population and values. To achieve this, however, it is necessary to work and operate flexibly with the various strategies, to use them precisely and to continue to search for innovative solutions that aim to combine sustainability, ecology, protection and multifunctionality.

However, as in other areas, mental adaptation to external changes poses a not insignificant problem, especially when centuries of tradition have emphasised the fight against the sea rather than living with the sea.

The designation of the Wadden Sea as a World Heritage Site may actually have a positive effect on this development in the long term. This is because, on the one hand, sustainable solutions must be applied that preserve the character of the Wadden Sea as far as possible. And secondly, World Heritage status can help to bring about this mental change in the population of the Wadden Sea region. There are already signs that a rethink is taking place here. (Sustainable) tourism as a source of income is a not insignificant factor here. Given that official institutions in Germany such as the Schleswig-Holstein Ministry for Energy Transition, Agriculture, Environment and Rural Areas are slowly beginning to rethink their approach, we can look to the future with optimism. However, the implementation of new ideas depends on whether the coastal residents can be convinced, especially the residents of the German Wadden Sea, which covers 60% of the Wadden Sea coast. In conclusion, it can therefore be said that the Wadden Sea region will undergo major changes in the coming decades, which will not so much challenge the work-hardened hands of the Wadden Sea inhabitants as their ability to change mentally and reinvent themselves at regular intervals.