Research

Funding: University of Gedansk, Polen, 1.080 EUR

Project Details:
In this project a full dissection of marine mammals stranded on the Polish Baltic coast will be conducted. This includes an external examination and morphometric measurements , visual inspection and description of the state of internal organs, issue sampling for further analysis, segregation and description and securing of samples. Assessment of the age of dissected individuals, making a test of the parasites and making a report from the section.

Funding: Industry (Veterinary pharmaceuticals/Vaccines), 65.000 EUR

Funding: Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur, 48.947 EUR

Project Details:
Im Curriculum der tierärztlichen Ausbildung sind Lehreinheiten zu Kommunikations- und Beratungsstrategien speziell in der Nutztierhaltung derzeit nicht vorgesehen. Da die Tierärztin und der Tierarzt meist als erste bei Problemen auf dem Betrieb von den Tierhaltenden angesprochen werden, können durch sie Veränderungen bewirkt werden, sofern sie entsprechend ausgebildet sind.

Über ein zweistufiges, innovatives Lehrkonzept, soll Studierenden der letzten Fachsemester, während der Lehreinheit "Epidemiologie und Bestandsdiagnostik beim Schwein" vermittelt werden, wie sie 1. das landwirtschaftliche Personal über ein Gespräch erreichen, zur Selbstreflexion bewegen und damit einen positiven Veränderungsprozess für die Betriebsabläufe anstoßen können und 2. ihre eigene Tierbeobachtung im Betrieb schulen und diese mit dem landwirtschaftlichen Personal kommunizieren.

Der letzte Teil des Projektes umfasst die Evaluation der Lehrveranstaltung in Bezug auf ihre Wirksamkeit auf Betriebsebene: Hat die Beobachtungs- und Kommunikationsstrategie der Studierenden unter Anleitung eines tierärztlich erfahrenen Lehrenden zu einer Verbesserung der Tiergesundheit und des Tierwohls geführt?

Funding: Landesbetrieb f. Küstenschutz, Nationalpark u. Meeresschutz Schleswig-Holstein, Tönning, 51.769 EUR

Project Details:
Harbor porpoises are representatives of the top predators from the group of mammals in the North Sea and Wadden Sea. With the amendment of the National Park Act in 1999, part of the national park was explicitly dedicated to harbor porpoise protection, as a high density of mother-calf groups was found there. As part of the reorganization of the Federal-Länder Marine Program (BLMP), a program for joint monitoring of marine mammals was agreed upon in January 2011, which meets the requirements of monitoring according to the relevant European guidelines and international conventions. In this program, the Schleswig-Holstein National Park Administration (NPV) within the Schleswig-Holstein State Agency for Coastal Protection, National Parks and Marine Conservation (LKN) has the task of organizing, implementing and financing the acoustic monitoring of harbor porpoises. The acoustic surveys for the NPV are conducted by the Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research (ITAW) as part of the joint marine mammal monitoring under the BLMP. For this purpose, monitoring stations are operated at four specified locations in the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea (Lister Tief, Meldorfer Bucht, Rochelsteert, and Westerland). The monitoring stations are equipped with click detectors (C-PODs), which record the echolocation activity of harbor porpoises. The C-PODs are maintained and read out on a regular basis. The data obtained will be evaluated against the background of the optimization of the acoustic monitoring as well as necessary extensions in case of a permanent operation of the monitoring stations. The data of this long-term study provide information about a possible rhythmicity as well as tidal dependence in the porpoise detection over the day and over the course of a year.

Results:

The analysis of the data showed that harbor porpoises have been recorded at all four monitoring positions over the study period to date. However, spatial (between stations) and temporal differences (individual years, over the course of a year, over the course of a day) in detection rates were noted. At the station Lister Tief (LT), on the eastern side of Sylt, the lowest detection rates were recorded. The station Westerland (WL), west of Sylt in the whale sanctuary, has the highest detection rates (maximum per day) over the study period. The station Meldorfer Bucht (MB), which is located in the immediate vicinity of Büsum harbor, also showed very high detection rates, with an increasing trend in the summer months. The modeling of the individual stations could clearly show that there is a strong seasonality in the harbor porpoise detections. All stations show a maximum in detections in spring, in the period from mid-March to mid-April. This period is just before the phase of the highest birth rate, which lasts from mid-June to the end of July. During this period, increased detections were only detected at station MB. Approximately two months after the birthing phase, the mating season of harbor porpoises in the North Sea begins. Within this period, an increased detection was observed at Rochelsteert station (RS) in contrast to all other stations. This could be an indication that the area around the station is used for mating. The calves are suckled for about 10 months, but start eating solid food, in the form of small shrimp-like crabs (Euphausiidae, e.g., North Sea shrimp), at about five months of age. During this stage, an increase in detection rates was noted at Station LT. It is conceivable that juvenile harbor porpoises visit shallow water areas, such as at station LT, to seek benthic first solid food.

 

Time of day had little effect on detection rates over the entire study period. However, a pattern in diurnal rhythms with more frequent detections in the morning hours was observed at Station LT. A similar pattern was also evident at station RS, with slightly higher detections, spread throughout the day.

The influence of the tide is more pronounced than the diurnal rhythmicity and could be observed at high tide or in the phases between high and low tide. Station LT shows increased detection rates just before low water and a minimum during high water. When comparing stations WL and RS with MB, an opposite effect is observed. Station MB shows a minimum in detection rates shortly after high tide, which translates into a maximum during high tide at stations WL and RS.

 

The Wadden Sea monitoring has so far generated robust and continuous long-term data sets of nine years of harbor porpoise click activity. With these unique data sets, it is possible to build models that provide information on harbor porpoise presence in the Wadden Sea and the influence of possible environmental parameters. The increase of the data base over the years has shown that the models provide an increasingly clear picture of the influence of abiotic factors on harbor porpoises. The assessments of harbor porpoise presence required by international agreements (MSFD and trilateral agreements) can currently only be carried out on a temporal scale using the acoustic data generated within the project with click detectors. In order to further expand the data base and thus improve the quality for assessment, it is necessary to continue the Wadden Sea monitoring every year.

Project Details:
Zunächst erfolgt die Charakterisierung der Vaginaltumoren anhand von spezifischen histopathologischen und immhunhistochemischen Färbemethoden in die folgenden 4 Gruppen eingeteilt: Leiomyome, Leiomyosarkome, Fibrome und Polypen. Im Anschluss erfolgt die Untersuchung zur Expression spezifischer Steroidhormonrezeptoren, Östrogen- und Progesteronrezeptoren mittels Immunhistochemie. Die Idee ist die Ansprechbarkeit der verschiedenen Tumortypen auf Sexualsteroide zu charakterisieren und eine Optimierung der Therapieempfehlung vorzunehmen.

Results:

https://elib.tiho-hannover.de/receive/tiho_mods_00009663

Project Details:
Seit 2013 wird der Progress Test Tiermedizin gemeinsam an deutschsprachigen veterinärmedizinischen Bildungsstätten durchgeführt. Die Stiftung Tierärztliche Hochschule (TiHo) bietet den Progress Test kontinuierlich seit 2013 den Studierenden an. Es erfolgt eine Auswertung der TiHo-spezifischen Daten.

Results:

Herrmann, Lisa (2021): Untersuchungen zum Progress Test Tiermedizin an der Stiftung Tierärztliche Hochschule Hannover. Hannover. Online unter: https://elib.tiho-hannover.de/receive/tiho_mods_00004988

Funding: Rijkswaterstaat, Verkeer en Leefomgeving (WVL), Utrecht, 30.113 EUR

Project Details:
The aim of the project is an update of the predicted density maps of harbour porpoises in the North Sea, as previously done by ITAW.
Effort and sighting data collected during dedicated harbour porpoise aerial surveys in the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Germany during the period 2013 until 2018, as well as the international SCANS-III survey from July 2016, will be analysed jointly to produce updates of the spatial density predictions.
Three seasonal maps (for spring, summer and autumn), will be produced from the available survey data.

Results:

This project aimed to update density surface layers for harbour porpoises in the North Sea by enlarging an existing database from the period 2005-2013 (Gilles et al. 2016) with dedicated aerial survey data from 2014-2019. Effort and sighting data collected during dedicated harbour porpoise aerial surveys in the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Germany during the period 2014 until 2019, as well as the international SCANS-III survey from July 2016, was analyzed jointly to produce updates of the spatial density predictions. For summer, the prediction of harbor porpoises showed a hotspot of high porpoise density in the south and south-western part of the study area. In comparison to the summer density surface from the previous period (Gilles et al. 2016), the hotspot off the northern German coast (SAC Sylt Outer Reef) and off the coast of Jutland in Denmark seems to be lower in intensity. The overall model-based abundance estimate of 384,864 individuals (CV=0.08) seems reasonable and is similar to the previous estimate from Gilles et al. (2016) for the period 2005-2013 (361,146; CV=0.20) and the design-based estimate from SCANS-III (2016) for the ICES assessment unit ‘North Sea’ (345,373; CV=0.18; Hammond et al. 2017). Since the addition of the recent survey data in spring and autumn did not result in a major change of the predicted density surface, probably due to low and restricted effort, we advise to use the predicted density surface layers from Gilles et al. (2016) for spring and autumn, respectively.

Cooperation Partners:

Wageningen Marine Research

Funding: 441.270 EUR

Project Details:
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Funding: Ministerium für Energiewende, Landwirtschaft, Umwelt, Natur und Digitalisierung (MELUND, Kiel), 91.738 EUR

Project Details:
The native grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) population developed increasingly positive after official protection and following recolonisation of the Wadden Sea. This can be seen as a good sign for the effectiveness of the implemented protective measures regarding the population development.
However, the positive population development also creates challenges from the management point of view. There is an increasing demand of suitable habitat as well as ressources, which is mostly associated with an enhanced conflict potential. This is especially connected with several tourism, fishery and energy industry stakeholders utilising the North Sea area.
The gain of a preferably comprehensive understanding of the target species concerning biology, health, habitat demand and connected population development is a fundamental requirement for the implementation of an effective and future-oriented management. Beside the value for the future local management concept, this knowledge is increasingly requested within the framework of international treaties.
The Heligoland dune plays a superior role for the German grey seal population. Up to 68% of the German population can be found there. Due to this presence, Heligoland is especially suitable as model region for further scientific studies in order to promote an understanding on national level beside the local situation.
Therefore, following aspects shall be processed in the context of this project:

° Detailed evaluation of beach use by grey seals on the Heligoland dune

° Analysis of collected data from the Schleswig-Holstein stranding network in order to gain a better understanding of marine mammals stranded on Heligoland (species, quantity, age, diseases)

° Support of public relations work for the management of potential human-wildlife conflict

° Feasibility studies concerning the investigation of long-term development and habitat use of the native grey seal population via telemetry under consideration of mortality, fertility and site fidelity as essential parameters for population development

Results:

In close cooperation with the Jordsand Association and the municipality's own dune rangers, existing count data were aggregated, sifted and evaluated.

For the evaluation, count data collected almost daily from 2016 to 2019 could be used. As expected, there is seasonal variation in the number of grey seals present. Thereby, the time of the fur change (March, April), as well as the birth phase (November, December) are the periods of the year when the most animals are sighted on the dune. This observation also shows that a significantly larger proportion of female animals is present on Helgoland during almost the entire course of the year. A further insight, which can be derived from this representation, refers to the time of the coat change. Here it is evident from the proportional distribution that female grey seals change their coats earlier (peak: ~end of February) than males (peak: ~mid-April).

Looking at the use in consideration of the individual beaches, it is noticeable that the beaches are used very differently. For grey seals, the north beach plays an important role as the main berth throughout the year. In the period from June to July alone, there are more grey seals on the southern beach than on the northern beach. The Aade, on the other hand, plays a rather subordinate role during the course of the year and is only increasingly used at the time of the change of coat, as well as during the birth phase.

In order to support the local public relations work, as well as to continue the important transfer of scientific knowledge to the population, several posters were created within the framework of this project, which contain general information about the biology of the seals on Helgoland, but also recommendations for the behavior towards the grey seals as well as current research results.

For an assessment of the long-term development of a population, it is essential to have a deeper understanding of space use and habitat requirements of juveniles. These parameters are difficult to determine for marine mammals because observing behavior at sea is nearly impossible. Satellite-based telemetry provides one method to record the distribution and behavior of juveniles after they leave their birthplace.

In order to gain further insights into the spatial distribution on the open sea as well as the use of feeding areas by means of the generated position data, further evaluation methods were used.

Special focus was put on Bayesian data analysis using so-called "Hierarchical state space models".

On the basis of the specific behavior of the transmitted grey seals, a recorded track can be divided into different uses. This shows that, in addition to the moorings in the coastal area, areas far "offshore" are used intensively by the animals. The generated dive data provide a further basis for evaluating the use of the available habitat. Thus, it can be shown that individuals frequently undertake benthic dives, reaching depths of up to 50 meters.

In summary, it can be said that with the methods shown and tested, a solid and reproducible analysis procedure could be established, which, despite the use of relatively simple equipment, allows a more in-depth assessment of the habitat use and distribution of the animals.

https://www.tiho-hannover.de/fileadmin//57_79_terr_aqua_Wildtierforschung/79_Buesum/downloads/Berichte/Helgolaender_Kegelrobbe.pdf

Funding: Industry (Feed manifacturing) , 8.234 EUR

Project Details:
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