The UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme collected chemical analysis data from 163 stranded cetaceans (80 harbour porpoises and 83 common dolphins) along the UK coastline from July 1991 to December 2020. Data includes stranding location, post-mortem examination variables, and concentrations of trace elements and PCB congeners in tissues, generated as part of the ChemPop NERC grant. The programme is funded by Defra and the Devolved Administrations.
Use Cases
- Modeling spatial and temporal trends of hazardous chemicals based on stranding location and date variables.
- Correlating contaminant burdens with biological variables like age, sex, and body condition collected during post-mortem.
- Comparing trace element profiles in harbour porpoises with PCB congener profiles in common dolphins for species-specific risk assessment.
Strengths
- Data covers a 29-year time range (1991-2020) for longitudinal analysis.
- Includes 163 individual animal records with associated post-mortem and chemical analysis data.
- Chemical analysis was performed by a specialized institution (Cefas) using standardized methods (ICP-MS, GC-ECD).
Limitations
- Row count for the full dataset is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Data may reflect geographic and temporal bias inherent to stranding event reporting.
Provenance
- Source
- UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP), Marine Environmental Data & Information Network.
- Collection Method
- Chemical analysis of tissues from stranded cetaceans, collected during post-mortem examinations.
- Time Range
- July 1991 to December 2020
- Freshness
- Last updated 2026-03-18 15:11:02.083745; freshness should be verified.
- Geography
- UK coastline