Suchergebnisse

Abstract
Background
Metal and metalloid concentrations in mussels can vary between seasons. In biota monitoring, the sampling time is therefore an important issue. Within the German Environmental Specimen Bank (ESB) program blue mussels (Mytilus edulis Complex) are sampled regularly since the 1980s. The samples are collected in two-monthly intervals at two North Sea sites and in 6-month intervals at one Baltic Sea site. All samples from one site and year are combined to annual composite samples and archived as sub-samples under cryogenic conditions. In order to investigate a possible reduction of the number of annual sampling intervals while maintaining comparability with the long-term composite sample data, the seasonal variability of metals/metalloids was analyzed based on the half-yearly and bimonthly samples of 2013, 2015 and 2017.

Results
In mussels from the North Sea site Eckwarderhoerne seasonality of metals/metalloids was comparable in all 3 years (arsenic being the only exception). At the North Sea site Koenigshafen seasonality of cobalt, nickel, cadmium, copper, lead, and arsenic was comparable in 2013 and 2015 but not in 2017, while selenium showed the same seasonality in all 3 years. Within 1 year, concentrations of metals and metalloids can vary by the same order of magnitude as observed between annual composite samples of different years making it impossible to select just one representative sampling time point per year that would provide the same information as the respective annual composite sample.

Conclusions
The findings highlight the importance of carefully selecting the sampling time point when using mussels in biota monitoring. For the German ESB program it is recommended to continue with the current sampling strategy and analyze annual composite samples in order to maintain comparability with the long-term data series, which are a special feature of the ESB.

This brochure is a summary of the conference for European Environmental Specimen Banks in Berlin, 21-22 June 2010. The conference was organised by the German Federeal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, the German Environment Agency and the Norman Network.

Abstract
Background
The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires the monitoring of biota—preferably fish—to check the compliance of tissue concentrations of priority substances (PS) against substance-specific environmental quality standards (EQSs). In monitoring programs, different fish species are covered, which often are secondary consumers with a trophic level (TL) of about 3. For harmonization, a normalization of monitoring data to a common trophic level is proposed, i.e., TL 4 (predatory fish) in freshwaters, so that data would be sufficiently protective. For normalization, the biomagnification properties of the chemicals can be considered by applying substance-specific trophic magnification factors (TMFs). Alternatively, TL-corrected biomagnification factors (BMFTLs) may be applied. Since it is impractical to derive site-specific TMFs or BMFTLs, often data from literature will be used for normalization. However, available literature values for TMFs and BMFTLs are quite varying. In the present study, the use of literature-derived TMFs and BMFTLs in data normalization is studied more closely.

Results
An extensive literature evaluation was conducted to identify appropriate TMFs for the WFD PS polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE), hexachlorobenzene, perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), dioxins and dioxin-like compounds (PCDD/F + dl-PCB), hexabromocyclododecane, and mercury. The TMFs eventually derived were applied to PS monitoring data sets of fish from different trophic levels (chub, bream, roach, and perch) from two German rivers. For comparison, PFOS and PBDE data were also normalized using literature-retrieved BMFTLs.

Conclusions
The evaluation illustrates that published TMFs and BMFTLs for WFD PS are quite variable and the selection of appropriate values for TL 4 normalization can be challenging. The normalized concentrations partly included large uncertainties when considering the range of selected TMFs, but indicated whether an EQS exceedance at TL 4 can be expected. Normalization of the fish monitoring data revealed that levels of substances accumulating in the food web (TMF or BMF > 1) can be underestimated when relying on fish with TL < 4 for EQS compliance assessment. The evaluation also revealed that TMF specifically derived for freshwater ecosystems in Europe would be advantageous. Field-derived BMFTLs seemed to be no appropriate alternative to TMFs, because they can vary even stronger than TMFs.

Das Umweltbundesamt (UBA) und die Bundesanstalt für Gewässerkunde (BfG) organisierten eine Konferenz zu Plastik in Binnengewässern im Auftrag des Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz, Bau und Reaktorsicherheit. (BMUB). Die Veranstaltung fand am 21. - 22. Juni 2016 in Berlin statt, mit 220 Teilnehmer_innen aus 20 europäischen und zwei nicht-europäischen Ländern. Ziel war der Austausch von Kenntnissen über Plastik in europäischen Binnengewässern und die Diskussion über dessen Folgen für die Umwelt und die Gesellschaft. Die Referent_innen und Teilnehmer_innen kamen aus den Bereichen Wissenschaft, Regulierungsbehörden, Industrie und Nicht-Regierungsorgansisationen. Vorträge und Poster zu verschiedenen Themen wie Quellen und Senken, Umweltbelange, Risikowahrnehmung und Managementoptionen wurden präsentiert. In Vorbereitung der Konferenz wurde ein Issue Paper über Plastik in europäischen Binnengewässern erstellt. In diesem Zusammenhang wurde ein informeller Fragebogen an die Wassermanagementbehörden in Europe versendet, um einen Überblick über Monitoring, Risikowahrnehmung Managementoptionen zu erhalten. Die Ergebnisse dieser Umfrage wurden in dem Issue Paper dargestellt.

Trophic magnification factors (TMFs) have been derived in a variety of different aquatic eco-systems worldwide to investigate accumulation patterns of environmentally relevant chemicals. The TMF is defined as a metric that describes the average trophic magnification of a chemical through the analyzed food web under realistic environmental conditions. Not only is the TMF interesting for chemicals' risk assessment related questions, but also for monitoring aspects under the European Water Framework Directive (WFD). This study is the first TMF study con-ducted in a German freshwater ecosystem, that is, Lake Templin near Potsdam. Aim of the study was to investigate the food web magnification following existing guidance to derive reliable TMFs that could be used for regulatory purposes. A sampling campaign yielded 15 biota samples covering about three trophic levels, which have been processed and cryo-preserved following standardized protocols of the German Environmental Specimen Bank (ESB). The samples remain available for future analysis and, thus, form a "food web on ice". These large-scale food web samples are ready-to-use for a broad variety of analyses. In a first step, a plausibility check was performed. Different persistent organic pollutants (POPs), which are known to magnify in food webs and are not readily metabolized, serve as benchmarks. It could be shown that for nearly all of the POPs analyzed, the TMFs are significantly above 1. In a few cases, an enrichment is also seen, but not statistically relevant. Since not only POPs with lipophilic accumulation properties were analyzed, it could be concluded that the food web on ice samples from Lake Templin can be used to characterize the trophic magnification potential of further substances with less investigated bioaccumulation properties present in the samples. To this end, several PFAS, pharmaceuticals, pesticides and methyl siloxanes were investigated in the samples to derive their TMFs.

In 2005, the European Commission funded the NORMAN project to promote a permanent network of reference laboratories and research centers, including academia, industry, standardization bodies, and NGOs. Since then, NORMAN has (i) facilitated a more rapid and wide-scope exchange of data on the occurrence and effects of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), (ii) improved data quality and comparability via validation and harmonization of common sampling and measurement methods (chemical and biological), (iii) provided more transparent information and monitoring data on CECs, and (iv) established an independent and competent forum for the technical/scientific debate on issues related to emerging substances. NORMAN plays a significant role as an independent organization at the interface between science and policy, with the advantage of speaking to the European Commission and other public institutions with the "bigger voice" of more than 70 members from 20 countries. This article provides a summary of the first 10 years of the NORMAN network. It takes stock of the work done so far and outlines NORMAN's vision for a Europe-wide collaboration on CECs and sustainable links from research to policy-making. It contains an overview of the state of play in prioritizing and monitoring emerging substances with reference to several innovative technologies and monitoring approaches. It provides the point of view of the NORMAN network on a burning issue—the regulation of CECs—and presents the positions of various stakeholders in the field (DG ENV, EEA, ECHA, and national agencies) who participated in the NORMAN workshop in October 2016. The main messages and conclusions from the round table discussions are briefly presented.

In 2005, the European Commission funded the NORMAN project to promote a permanent network of reference laboratories and research centers, including academia, industry, standardization bodies, and NGOs. Since then, NORMAN has (i) facilitated a more rapid and wide-scope exchange of data on the occurrence and effects of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), (ii) improved data quality and comparability via validation and harmonization of common sampling and measurement methods (chemical and biological), (iii) provided more transparent information and monitoring data on CECs, and (iv) established an independent and competent forum for the technical/scientific debate on issues related to emerging substances. NORMAN plays a significant role as an independent organization at the interface between science and policy, with the advantage of speaking to the European Commission and other public institutions with the "bigger voice" of more than 70 members from 20 countries. This article provides a summary of the first 10 years of the NORMAN network. It takes stock of the work done so far and outlines NORMAN's vision for a Europe-wide collaboration on CECs and sustainable links from research to policy-making. It contains an overview of the state of play in prioritizing and monitoring emerging substances with reference to several innovative technologies and monitoring approaches. It provides the point of view of the NORMAN network on a burning issue—the regulation of CECs—and presents the positions of various stakeholders in the field (DG ENV, EEA, ECHA, and national agencies) who participated in the NORMAN workshop in October 2016. The main messages and conclusions from the round table discussions are briefly presented.