Environmental specimen banking. Herring gull eggs and breams as
bioindicators for monitoring longterm and spatial trends of chlorinated
hydrocarbons*
P. Marth1,2**, D. Martens1,2,
K.-W. Schramm1, J. Schmitzer1,
K. Oxynos1, and A. Kettrup1,2
1GSF-National Research
Center for Environment and Health, Institute of Ecological Chemistry,
Ingolstaedter Landstrasse 1, D-85764 Neuherberg;
2Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Lehrstuhl für Oekologische
Chemie und Umweltanalytik, D-85350 Freising-Weihenstephan
Abstract: The German Environmental Specimen Bank (GESB) has
been an important tool in contaminant monitoring and ecotoxicological
research for more than one decade. The annual monitoring program provides
a long-term database to determine trends in contaminant burdens in biota
samples. Results of ten years of experience in the determination of
chlorinated hydrocarbons (CHCs) in herring gull eggs collected in the
North Sea and the Baltic Sea are presented. In addition, the study reports
CHC concentrations in bream livers from the River Elbe between 1993-1997.
Most of the compounds studied show a significant decline over time,
especially in samples from East Germany. For specimens taken in West
Germany, only small decreases or no changes of CHC levels were observed.
*Lectures presented
at the 4th Congress of Toxicology in Developing Countries (4th CTOX-DC),
Antalya, Turkey, 6-10 November 1999
**Corresponding author
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