scope:

Introduction

Environmental samples collected through biomonitoring with bird eggs are important for the state of the environment. These samples permit conclusions to be made on the proportion of chemical substances that may be hazardous to living systems, including humans, due to their uptake, accumulation and effects. However, such environmental samples only yield reliable statements when the quality of the information derived from them can be guaranteed and controlled. To this end, standards, such as are outlined in the current guideline, must be adhered to during sampling and are essential as a basis for spatial and temporal comparisons between samples that have been collected.

In this context, birds are particularly important for a variety of reasons. They occupy very different ecological niches in terrestrial, limnic and marine ecosystems and have the ability to take up chemical substances from these habitats (mainly through their food). They indirectly accumulate immissions from the air, either mainly through plant-based or animal foods, depending on their trophic level. This not only makes them important indicators for the distribution and transport of compounds within existing food chains or ecosystems, but also for long-distance transported substances. This also includes persistent compounds (PBT or vPvB compounds), that may, among others, cause endocrine, mutagenic or carcinogenic effects (CMR compounds, [1]). Other reasons include, for example, the fact that the biology and ecology of many bird species is very well understood, species determination is often simple, and they Vogelare a greater focus of public interest than most other groups of animals. Furthermore, particularly the top predators within this group incorporate environmental contamination over large areas and long time spans.

The use of bird eggs as environmental samples generally represents a non-invasive intervention in the populations in question. In addition, they have further advantages that are described in detail in Section 2. At this point, however, it is necessary to emphasize that eggs react highly sensitively to toxic chemicals at certain stages of their development and can therefore be used both as indicators of accumulation and effect. The effects of the compounds on egg shell quality, the embryos and hatching rate can also be investigated in studies in the laboratory.