Gannet Egg Contaminant Concentrations in the United Kingdom 1971-2009

United Kingdom data provides concentrations of chemical contaminants in 658 northern gannet eggs collected between 1971 and 2009. The dataset, managed by the Predatory Bird Monitoring Scheme, includes measurements for organochlorine pesticides, total mercury, and PCBs, with a focus on colonies at Ailsa Craig and Bass Rock.

Use Cases

• Analyze temporal trends in total mercury and PCB concentrations across the 1971-2009 collection period.
• Compare contaminant levels, such as organochlorine pesticides, between gannet colonies at Ailsa Craig and Bass Rock.
• Model correlations between different measured contaminants, like total PCBs and individual PCB congeners, within egg samples.

Strengths

• Contains 658 egg samples providing a substantive sample size for analysis.
• Covers a long-term temporal range of 38 years (1971-2009) for studying trends.
• Data is part of a national monitoring scheme (PBMS) with structured collection protocols.

Limitations

• Geographic coverage is biased, with the majority of samples from only two UK colonies.
• The dataset's most recent data is from 2009, making it temporally stale for current environmental assessments.

Provenance

Source

Environmental Information Data Centre

Collection Method

Eggs collected by licensed collectors and analyzed by the Predatory Bird Monitoring Scheme (PBMS).

Time Range

1971 to 2009

Freshness

null

Geography

United Kingdom, primarily colonies on Ailsa Craig (Firth of Clyde) and Bass Rock (Firth of Forth)