The potential for dispersant use as a maritime oil spill response measure in German waters.

In case of an oil spill, dispersant application represents a response option, which enhances the natural dispersion of oil and thus reduces coating of seabirds and coastal areas. However, as oil is transferred to the water phase, a trade-off of potential harmful effects shifted to other compartments must be performed. This paper summarizes the results of a workshop on the current knowledge on risks and benefits of the use of dispersants with respect to specific conditions encountered at the German sea areas.

A Framework to Evaluate the Impact of Armourstones on the Chemical Quality of Surface Water.

Today, basic requirements for construction works include the protection of human health and of the environment. In the tension area between economic demands, circular flow economy and environmental safety, a link between the results from standardized leaching tests and the respective environmental quality standards must be created. To derive maximum release limits of metals and metalloids for armourstones in hydraulic engineering, this link is accomplished via a simple model approach.

Dry bulk cargo shipping - An overlooked threat to the marine environment?

Approximately 9.5billiontonnes of goods is transported over the world oceans annually with dry bulk representing the largest cargo group. This paper aims to analyse whether the transport and associated inputs of dry bulks into the sea create a risk for the marine environment.

Contribution of priority PAHs and POPs to Ah receptor-mediated activities in sediment samples from the River Elbe Estuary, Germany.

The estuary of the River Elbe between Hamburg and the North Sea (Germany) is a sink for contaminated sediment and suspended particulate matter (SPM). One major concern is the effect of human activities on the hydrodynamics, particularly the intensive dredging activities in this area that may result in remobilization of sediment-bound pollutants. The aim of this study was to identify pollutants contributing to the toxicological risk associated with re-suspension of sediments in the Elbe Estuary by use of an effect-directed analysis that combines chemical and biological analyses in with specific fractionation techniques.

Baseline of the butyltin distribution in surface sediments (0-20 cm) of the Elbe estuary (Germany, 2011).

The concentrations of the butyltin (BT) species tributyltin (TBT), dibutyltin (DBT), and monobutyltin (MBT) were measured in the surface sediments (0-20 cm) at 29 sites of the Elbe estuary in 2011. TBT values ranged from 'undetectable' to 41 ng Sn g(-1) dry weight (d.w.

Sediment pollution in the Elbe estuary and its potential toxicity at different trophic levels.

Sediment contamination is one of the most pressing environmental problems in estuaries of industrialized countries and is of special interest to water managers involved in waterway maintenance dredging. In the present study, eight heavy metals (As, Pb, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Hg, and Zn) and 41 organic compounds (pentachlorbenzol (PeCB), hexachlorbenzol (HCB), 7 polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), the hexachlorocyclohexanes α-HCH, β-HCH, γ-HCH, 6 dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane isomers, organochlorine styrene (OCS), octachloronaphthalene (OCN), 15 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and 6 organotin (OT) compounds) were analyzed in surface sediments at 36 sites in the Elbe estuary in 2006. Correlation analysis showed a general decrease in sediment contaminant concentrations from the stations near the port of Hamburg towards the open sea.

Automated Nanocosm test system to assess the effects of stressors on two interacting populations.

There is a great need in environmental research for test systems that include ecologically important factors and that are also easy to use. We present here the automated test system Nanocosm, which is composed of populations of Daphnia magna and Culex pipiens molestus. The Nanocosm system allows the investigation of stressed populations in the presence of interspecific competition, which is a very important factor involved in the dynamics of ecosystems.