Herring gull
Inshore, the herring gull mainly feeds from the sea: upon fish, mussels, and crabs.
Herring gulls are common at the German North and the Baltic Sea coast. Here they feed mainly on fish, mussels and crustaceans and are secondary respectively tertiary consumers and top predators in the marine food web. During breeding time they feed in close-by areas and their eggs are excellent indicators for pollution loads in the direct vicinity of breeding colonies. Herring gulls eggs arre frequently used monitoring species because they are easily available and identifiable and not protected by any legal restrictions.
The herring gull eggs are used as specimen.
Sampling takes place once a year during the nesting season.
Guideline for sampling and sample treatment Herring gull (Larus argentatus)
Recommended analysis examples
Search data
Target organs/Matrices
| Egg content | Eggs are suited as accumulation indicators and mirror the contamination of the hatching females. The shell protect and inhibits a contamination of the sample. |
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Sampling area
| NP Vorpommersche Boddenlandschaft | National Park in the largest brackish water (Bodden) habitat of the world. |
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| BR/NP Wattenmeere | National park in the world largest connected sand and mud flats. |
Analytes
| Metals | Eighty percent of all elements on earth are metals |
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| Nonmetals | Only eighteen elements in the periodic table |
| Chlorohydrocarbons | Group of organic compounds with at least one covalently bonded chlorine atom |
| Supplementary parameters | Additional information for the interpretation of contamination data |
Sampling period
1988 - 2010
Extended information
Links to external information and legislation
- Ach du dickes Ei. Hörfunk-Beitrag zum Vogelei-Monitoring von Umweltprobenbanken.
- EUNIS biodiversity database - Larus agentatus
Literature
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Retrospektives Monitoring von Perfluorierten Verbindungen (PFCs) in archivierten Silbermöweneiern
Rüdel, Heinz; Müller, Josef; Jürling, Heinrich; Paulus, Martin; Schröter-Kermani, Christa
Mitt Umweltchem Ökotox 16 (3), 2010, 64-66, 2010
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PCDD, PCDF, and Dioxin- like PCB in Herring Gull Eggs from the North Sea and Baltic Sea: Levels, Patterns and, Temporal Trends
Schröter- Kermani, Christa; Schmolz, Erik; Herrmann, Thomas; Päpke, Olaf
Organohalogen compounds 67 (2005), 1295-1299, 2005
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Temporal trend (1988-2008) of hexabromocyclododecane enantiomers in herring gull eggs from the german coastal region
Esslinger, Susanne; Becker, Roland; Jung, Christian; Schröter-Kermani, Christa; Bremser, Wolfram; Nehl, Irene
Chemosphere 83 (2011), 2, 161-167, 2011