Progress on bringing together raptor collections in Europe for contaminant research and monitoring in relation to chemicals regulation

Progress on bringing together raptor collections in Europe for contaminant research and monitoring in relation to chemicals regulatio

A review of raptor and owl monitoring activity across Europe : its implications for capacity building towards pan-European monitoring

ABSTRACT Capsule: A questionnaire identified 1196 raptor monitoring species schemes within 236 monitoring programmes across 37 countries. Aims: To assess the level of monitoring of status/trends of raptors across Europe, to produce a webbased inventory of activities. Methods: A questionnaire promoted by voluntary national coordinators assessed monitoring coverage, focusing on breeding populations. Results: One thousand one hundred and ninety-six species schemes (236 monitoring programmes; 90% active in 2012) were reported from 37 countries. Sixty per cent of schemes were of over 10 years duration and nine countries ran schemes of over 40 years duration. Nineteen species had at least one scheme in 10 or more countries, and 15 species had schemes that ran for over 10 years. Thirteen species had breeding monitoring schemes in over 50% of countries where they breed, including widespread species (e.g. Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus) and localized species (e.g. Rough-legged Buzzard Buteo lagopus). Lanner Falcon Falco biarmicus, Levant Sparrowhawk Accipiter brevipes and Booted Eagle Hieraaetus pennatus had the least representative coverage, and four rare species had no coverage. Coverage was more representative in north and west Europe than further south and east. Coverage was more representative for widespread species and those with more favourable conservation status. Conclusions: Large potential exists to enhance reporting on status/trends, ecotoxicology analyses and volunteer-based monitoring at the pan-European scale. National coordinators provide an ideal network to develop and disseminate best practice guidance across Europe.Peer reviewe

The role of natural science collections in the biomonitoring of environmental contaminants in apex predators in support of the EU's zero pollution ambition

The chemical industry is the leading sector in the EU in terms of added value. However, contaminants pose a major threat and significant costs to the environment and human health. While EU legislation and international conventions aim to reduce this threat, regulators struggle to assess and manage chemical risks, given the vast number of substances involved and the lack of data on exposure and hazards. The European Green Deal sets a ‘zero pollution ambition for a toxic free environment’ by 2050 and the EU Chemicals Strategy calls for increased monitoring of chemicals in the environment. Monitoring of contaminants in biota can, inter alia: provide regulators with early warning of bioaccumulation problems with chemicals of emerging concern; trigger risk assessment of persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic substances; enable risk assessment of chemical mixtures in biota; enable risk assessment of mixtures; and enable assessment of the effectiveness of risk management measures and of chemicals regulations overall. A number of these purposes are to be addressed under the recently launched European Partnership for Risk Assessment of Chemicals (PARC). Apex predators are of particular value to biomonitoring. Securing sufficient data at European scale implies large-scale, long-term monitoring and a steady supply of large numbers of fresh apex predator tissue samples from across Europe. Natural science collections are very well-placed to supply these. Pan-European monitoring requires effective coordination among field organisations, collections and analytical laboratories for the flow of required specimens, processing and storage of specimens and tissue samples, contaminant analyses delivering pan-European data sets, and provision of specimen and population contextual data. Collections are well-placed to coordinate this. The COST Action European Raptor Biomonitoring Facility provides a well-developed model showing how this can work, integrating a European Raptor Biomonitoring Scheme, Specimen Bank and Sampling Programme. Simultaneously, the EU-funded LIFE APEX has demonstrated a range of regulatory applications using cutting-edge analytical techniques. PARC plans to make best use of such sampling and biomonitoring programmes. Collections are poised to play a critical role in supporting PARC objectives and thereby contribute to delivery of the EU’s zero-pollution ambition

Sampling and contaminant monitoring protocol for raptors

In May 2013 representatives from six countries gathered in Murcia, Spain, to attend the Workshop on &ldquo;Setting best practices on raptor contaminant monitoring activities in Europe&rdquo; funded by EURAPMON. The workshop developed a rough draft of the current protocol. The protocol was subsequently completed with the involvement of investigators from Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. All contributors are experts in monitoring contaminants in raptors. The aim of this sampling protocol is to provide guidance on types of best practice that will facilitate harmonisation of procedures between existing and emerging schemes and so maximise the reliability, comparability and interoperability of data.The methods here do not require use of anaesthesia on birds. This protocol covers the sampling of blood and feathers from live birds, addled and deserted eggs, internal organs and tissues from dead specimens, and other samples such as faeces, preen oil and pellets.</p

Tracking pan-continental trends in environmental contamination using sentinel raptors — what types of samples should we use?

Biomonitoring using birds of prey as sentinel species has been mooted as a way to evaluate the success of European Union directives that are designed to protect people and the environment across Europe from industrial contaminants and pesticides. No such pan-European evaluation currently exists. Coordination of such large scale monitoring would require harmonisation across multiple countries of the types of samples collected and analysed-matrices vary in the ease with which they can be collected and the information they provide. We report the first ever pan-European assessment of which raptor samples are collected across Europe and review their suitability for biomonitoring. Currently, some 182 monitoring programmes across 33 European countries collect a variety of raptor samples, and we discuss the relative merits of each for monitoring current priority and emerging compounds. Of the matrices collected, blood and liver are used most extensively for quantifying trends in recent and longer-term contaminant exposure, respectively. These matrices are potentially the most effective for pan-European biomonitoring but are not so widely and frequently collected as others. We found that failed eggs and feathers are the most widely collected samples. Because of this ubiquity, they may provide the best opportunities for widescale biomonitoring, although neither is suitable for all compounds. We advocate piloting pan-European monitoring of selected priority compounds using these matrices and developing read-across approaches to accommodate any effects that trophic pathway and species differences in accumulation may have on our ability to track environmental trends in contaminants

Making use of apex predator sample collections: an integrated workflow for quality assured sample processing, analysis and digital sample freezing of archived samples

Using monitoring data from apex predators for chemicals risk assessment can provide important information on bioaccumulating as well as biomagnifying chemicals in food webs. A survey among European institutions involved in chemical risk assessment on their experiences with apex predator data in chemical risk assessment revealed great interest in using such data. However, the respondents indicated that constraints were related to expected high costs, lack of standardisation and harmonised quality criteria for exposure assessment, data access, and regulatory acceptance/application. During the Life APEX project, we demonstrated that European sample collections (i.e. environmental specimen banks (ESBs), research collection (RCs), natural history museums (NHMs)) archive a large variety of biological samples that can be readily used for chemical analysis once appropriate quality assurance/control (QA/QC) measures have been developed and implemented. We therefore issued a second survey on sampling, processing and archiving procedures in European sample collections to derive key quality QA/QC criteria for chemical analysis. The survey revealed great differences in QA/QC measures between ESBs, NHMs and RCs. Whereas basic information such as sampling location, date and biometric data were mostly available across institutions, protocols to accompany the sampling strategy with respect to chemical analysis were only available for ESBs. For RCs, the applied QA/QC measures vary with the respective research question, whereas NHMs are generally less aware of e.g. chemical cross-contamination issues. Based on the survey we derived key indicators for assessing the quality of biota samples that can be easily implemented in online databases. Furthermore, we provide a QA/QC workflow not only for sampling and processing but also for the chemical analysis of biota samples. We focussed on comprehensive analytical techniques such as non-target screening and provided insights into subsequent storage of high-resolution chromatograms in online databases (i.e. digital sample freezing platform) to ultimately support chemicals risk assessment

A review of constraints and solutions for collecting raptor samples and contextual data for a European raptor biomonitoring facility

The COST Action ‘European Raptor Biomonitoring Facility’ (ERBFacility) aims to develop pan-European raptor biomonitoring in support of better chemicals management in Europe, using raptors as sentinel species. This presents a significant challenge involving a range of constraints that must be identified and addressed. The aims of this study were to: (1) carry out a comprehensive review of the constraints that may limit the gathering in the field of raptor samples and contextual data, and assess their relative importance across Europe; and (2) identify and discuss possible solutions to the key constraints that were identified. We applied a participatory approach to identify constraints and to discuss feasible solutions. Thirty-one constraints were identified, which were divided into four categories: legal, methodological, spatial coverage, and skills constraints. To assess the importance of the constraints and their possible solutions, we collected information through scientific workshops and by distributing a questionnaire to stakeholders in all the countries involved in ERBFacility. We obtained 74 answers to the questionnaire, from 24 of the 39 COST participating countries. The most important constraints identified were related to the collection of complex contextual data about sources of contamination, and the low number of existing raptor population national/regional monitoring schemes and ecological studies that could provide raptor samples. Legal constraints, such as permits to allow the collection of invasive samples, and skills constraints, such as the lack of expertise to practice necropsies, were also highlighted. Here, we present solutions for all the constraints identified, thus suggesting the feasibility of establishing a long-term European Raptor Sampling Programme as a key element of the planned European Raptor Biomonitoring Facility

Il ritorno alla terra alta

Il presente studio indaga il tema del ritorno all’agricoltura da parte di giovani in territori dell’arco Alpino italiano. L’indagine si è svolta nelle tre Province italiane alpine: Trento, Aosta e Verbano Cusio Ossola, interessando trentatré aziende agricole attive sul territorio. Lo studio si compone di due distinti percorsi d’indagine. Il primo percorso consiste in un’analisi storica, bibliografica, sull’evoluzione del settore agricolo provinciale nel corso degli ultimi quarant’anni. Il secondo invece approfondisce il punto di vista dei giovani agricoltori, protagonisti del ritorno alla terra, i quali compongono una fotografia di gruppo che ci permette di comprendere e descrivere il fenomeno in corso. Dalla presente ricerca è emersa un’immagine realistica di quali sono i backgrounds, le aspettative, le facilitazioni, gli ostacoli e le difficoltà dei nuovi pionieri dell’alpicoltura. In fase di analisi, si sono esaminati i risultati al fine di individuare dei fattori chiave per lo sviluppo delle capacità imprenditoriali e di una strategia aziendale vincente, nonché il ruolo determinante ricoperto dai mercati e dalle politiche. Nelle conclusioni si è poi affrontato il tema delle prospettive future che potrebbero riguardare l’agricoltura di montagna, in vista anche delle nuove sfide legate a cambiamenti sociali, demografici e climatici