Environmental toxins lead to thinner eggshells for Ivory gulls. This is one key result of a recent study made by scientists from the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI), the Russian Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) in St. Petersburg and others. Samples were taken in Svalbard and arctic Russia in 2007. Compared with data from the early 20th century, eggshells from Spitsbergen and the Russian arctic are up to 17 % thinner.
Ivory gulls are on top of the food chain, and long-lived environmental toxins such as PCBs and DDT are accumulating towards the top of the food chain. The thinned eggshells are shown to have high concentrations especially of DDT.
DDT was gradually banned in many countries from the early 1970s onwards and is now used legally only in relatively small quantities to fight diseases such as malaria. After an ban on DDT in Norway, eggshell thickness of seabirds and birds of prey recovered again back to natural values.
By the way, my new book is in print and it can now be ordered 🙂 it is a photo book with the title “Norwegens arktischer Norden (3): Die Bäreninsel und Jan Mayen”, with German text Click here for further details!
This and other publishing products of the Spitsbergen publishing house in the Spitsbergen-Shop.
Norwegens arktischer Norden (1): Spitzbergen
Photobook: Norway's arctic islands. The text in this book is German. [shop url="https://shop.spitzbergen.de/en/polar-books/70-norwegens-arktischer-norden-1-aerial-arctic-9783937903262.html"] ← Back
Lofoten, Jan Mayen and Spitsbergen from the air - Photobook: Norway's arctic islands. The text in this book is German, but there is very little text, so I am sure that you will enjoy it regardless which languages you read (or not).
The companion book for the Svalbardhytter poster. The poster visualises the diversity of Spitsbergen‘s huts and their stories in a range of Arctic landscapes. The book tells the stories of the huts in three languages.
Comprehensive guidebook about Spitsbergen. Background (wildlife, plants, geology, history etc.), practical information including travelling seasons, how to travel, description of settlements, routes and regions.
Join an exciting journey with dog, skis and tent through the wintery wastes of East Greenland! We were five guys and a dog when we started in Ittoqqortoormiit, the northernmost one of two settlements on Greenland’s east coast.
12 postcards which come in a beautifully designed tray. Beautiful images from South Georgia across Antarctica from the Antarctic Peninsula to the Ross Sea and up to Macquarie Island and Campbell Island.