Report 351
Wildlife and pollution: 2000-01 Annual report
(2005)
Shore, R.F., Malcolm, H.M., Wienburg, C.L., Walker, L.A., Turk, A., Horne, J.A.
The Wildlife and Pollution contract covers a long-term monitoring programme that examines the levels of certain pollutants in selected wildlife species in Britain. The programme was started in the early 1960s, when there were serious concerns over the effects of organochlorine insecticides and organomercury fungicides on various species of birds and mammals.
Introduction
The Wildlife and Pollution contract covers a long-term
monitoring programme that examines the levels of certain pollutants
in selected wildlife species in Britain. The programme was started
in the early 1960s, when there were serious concerns over the
effects of organochlorine insecticides and organomercury fungicides
on various species of birds and mammals. This early work
demonstrated the effects of the organochlorines, and eventually
contributed to the ban on their use in the UK and abroad. The
programme has measured levels of these compounds in predatory and
fish-eating birds since then. Investigations have also been made
into the levels of industrial polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs),
following their identification as pollutants in 1966. Mercury
levels, derived from both agricultural and industrial sources, have
also been tracked. In recent years, investigations have been made
into the effects of the latest generation of rodenticides on barn
owls Tyto alba. Northern gannet Morus bassanus
eggs are also collected approximately biennially from two colonies
and, when available, from other sites; eggs were collected from one
site in 2000.
This programme is now the longest-running of its kind anywhere
in the world and the findings stimulate considerable interest
internationally, as well as in Britain. Annual reports give an
interim summary of results. This current report presents the
results of analyses carried out on material collected in 2000.
Every three years these annual results are gathered together into a
more substantial report in which they are integrated with previous
findings. The last report of this type covered the period up to and
including 1997 (Newton et al. 1998) and is updated here.
The present report summarises the long-term trends in all
contaminants (except rodenticides, analysed in Shore et
al. 2005) that occurred during the monitoring period up to and
including the year 2000. Results are published periodically in the
scientific literature, and recent key papers are listed in the
references to the present report.
The Wildlife and Pollution contract was the subject of
scientific assessment within JNCC's rolling programme of peer
review in autumn 1993 and was further assessed in 1996. As a result
of the last two assessments, some monitoring was curtailed.
Specifically, common kestrels Falco tinnunculus were no
longer monitored for organochlorines, although from 2001 this
species will be monitored annually for second-generation
anticoagulant rodenticides. The Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
(CEH) still collects specimens for studying other contaminants as
part of its core research programme. Similarly, other species
(peregrine falcon Falco peregrinus, common buzzard
Buteo buteo, long-eared owl Asio otus, little owl
Athene noctua, common kingfisher Alcedo atthis,
great crested grebe Podiceps cristatus, and great bittern
Botaurus stellaris) that were received in small numbers in
occasional years were also not analysed routinely, although some
were analysed in specific one-off studies and tissues from
all birds received at CEH in 2000 are archived in
deep-freeze for future potential analyses.
Each section within the Wildlife and Pollution contract is
summarised below. Each is dependent on the provision of material
from amateur naturalists and other interested parties, and it is
not always possible to obtain desired material for analysis,
especially from remote areas.
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49 pages
ISSN 0963 8091
Please cite as: Shore, R.F., Malcolm, H.M., Wienburg, C.L., Walker, L.A., Turk, A., Horne, J.A., (2005), Wildlife and pollution: 2000-01 Annual report, JNCC Report 351, 49 pages, ISSN 0963 8091