Analyse von Quecksilber in Seeadlerfedern aus Mecklenburg-Vorpommern mit Hilfe der Hamburger Protonenmikrosonde

With the aid of the Hamburg proton micro-probe, we examined the concentration of mercury in sea eagle feathers collected over the course of several decades in the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern area. Based on the sites where these feathers were collected and the data of these findings, it is possible to get a differential picture of mercury contamination related both temporally and regionally to the mercurial pollution of seed mordants used agriculturally. We compared the concentrations found with a basic “geogenic” contamination which was also to be seen in the feather samples from the last century as detected in museum animal specimens.     

Pollution,habitat loss,fishing, and climate change as critical threats to penguins

Cumulative human impacts across the world's oceans are considerable. We therefore examined a single model taxonomic group, the penguins (Spheniscidae), to explore how marine species and communities might be at risk of decline or extinction in the southern hemisphere. We sought to determine the most important threats to penguins and to suggest means to mitigate these threats. Our review has relevance to other taxonomic groups in the southern hemisphere and in northern latitudes, where human impacts are greater. Our review was based on an expert assessment and literature review of all 18 penguin species; 49 scientists contributed to the process. For each penguin species, we considered their range and distribution, population trends, and main anthropogenic threats over the past approximately 250 years. These threats were harvesting adults for oil, skin, and feathers and as bait for crab and rock lobster fisheries; harvesting of eggs; terrestrial habitat degradation; marine pollution; fisheries bycatch and resource competition; environmental variability and climate change; and toxic algal poisoning and disease. Habitat loss, pollution, and fishing, all factors humans can readily mitigate, remain the primary threats for penguin species. Their future resilience to further climate change impacts will almost certainly depend on addressing current threats to existing habitat degradation on land and at sea. We suggest protection of breeding habitat, linked to the designation of appropriately scaled marine reserves, including in the High Seas, will be critical for the future conservation of penguins. However, large‐scale conservation zones are not always practical or politically feasible and other ecosystem‐based management methods that include spatial zoning, bycatch mitigation, and robust harvest control must be developed to maintain marine biodiversity and ensure that ecosystem functioning is maintained across a variety of scales. Contaminación, Pérdida de Hábitat, Pesca y Cambio Climático como Amenazas Críticas para los Pingüinos     

Der vorindustrielle Mensch in den Ökosystemen der Erde

Preindustrial man influenced and changed the earth's ecosystems decisively. The disappearance of large animals from all continents (Eurasia, e.g., mammoth; America, e.g., the giant sloths and the giant armadillo) after the Pleistocene was most probably due to a large extent to the early hunters and collectors. Corn-growing and breeding of domestic animals led to the disappearance of their wild forms (e.g., the wild form of today's old world camel is unknown) and the cultivation of huge monocultures. The increasing need for wood resulted in the disappearance of forests almost all over Europe. Specific needs, such as pig-raising or bee-keeping, supported the formation of particular landscapes, e.g., sparsely wooded forests and extensive heathlands. All these factors resulted in extreme soil erosion and the disappearance of nutritionally important minerals from the soil, which was thus severely depleted.     

The evolution of man and the extinction of animals

Africa has lost only very few big mammals at the end of the pleistocene. Evidence is put forward that the reason for the present richness of the African mammal fauna is a very early coevolution between evolving man and the megafauna of this area. Areas without such an early coevolution suffered severe losses (up to 100%) of their native megafauna, when early hunters invaded them.