Research

Project Details:
Animal welfare of pigs kept on farms includes both the well-being and the health of the animals. In Germany, there have been legal changes in relation to pig farming in recent years in order to achieve greater animal welfare. The study examines whether users inform themselves about topics concerning animal welfare in pig farming in Germany in forums and blogs and whether people with a professional background use these platforms to publish their personal opinions and evaluate emerging topics. For this purpose, the discussion content of Internet users with an obvious professional reference to pig farming is identified and their reaction to posts relating to animal welfare in pig farming is analyzed by means of a qualitative content analysis (Translated with DeepL.com (free version)).

Funding: MELUND, 749.985 EUR

Project Details:
The Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) is (re-)expanding in all parts of the German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein (SH) nowadays. As an aquatic mammal, otters mainly inhabit rivers, streams and lakes but also forage along the coastlines. Otters primarily feed on fish, whereas they are considered food generalists and also target amphibians, crustaceans, birds, mammals and other invertebrates. It is assumed that the decline of certain endangeredeD fish species can be linked to the growing otter population. Furthermore, there is an increase in conflicts between fisheries and otter conservation, both nationally and internationally. Therefore, an extensive evaluation of the current conflict potential between the growing otter population, fisheries situation and conservation conflicts between species is needed. This will be covered in the frame of this research project that focuses on fisheries, natural otter habitat and spawning areas of endangered salmonids in comparison:
-Installing wildlife cameras to assess the local abundance of otters
-Dietary analysis to investigate the prey spectrum of otters
-Determination of otter individuals using spraints (genetic fingerprinting)
-Evaluation of a potential conservation conflict between otters and salmonids
-Development of acustic deterrents to protect fisheries from otters
-Analysing reproduction parameters to assess the population health of otters using specimens found dead

Results:

The project has been extended and its funding increased until December 2025. "Project increase/extension-The return of the Eurasian Otter in Schleswig-Holstein - Investigations on the ecology, potential conflicts with fisheries management and conservation"

Funding: MELUND, 103.127 EUR

Project Details:
Two populations of harbour porpoise occur in the coastal waters of the German Baltic Sea, of which the "Western Belt Sea Population" is significantly larger with an estimated 42,324 individuals (acceptance range: 23,368-76,658), compared to the "Baltic Proper population", which is considered "critically endangered" with an estimated 497 individuals (acceptance range: 80-1,091). Harbour porpoise habitat in the Baltic Sea is intensely impacted by human activities that can have a negative impact on population level. These include shipping, tourist recreational activities, military activities, fishing, offshore construction, explosions of ammunition, chemical and pharmaceutical pollution, and marine debris. In the Baltic Sea in particular, harbour porpoise are threatened by set-net fisheries, to suffer from incidental bycatches. To warn harbour porpoises of set nets, acoustic devices are increasingly being used in the German Baltic Sea. These warning devices (Porpoise Alert = PAL) simulate a communication sound of harbour porpoises. Whether these devices lead to a reduction in bycatch has not yet been conclusively investigated. Effective management measures necessitate a deeper understanding of harbour porpoise habitat use. This is urgently needed, as there is evidence of declines in harbour porpoise populations in Schleswig-Holstein's waters.
The harbour porpoise is listed in Annex II and IV of the Flora-Fauna-Habitat Directives, which obliges EU member states to monitor its conservation status. In this project, the occurrence and habitat use of harbour porpoises in the western part of the Baltic Sea is investigated by means of passive acoustic monitoring. For this purpose, porpoise click detectors (CPODs, Cetacean-Porpoise Detector) were deployed at four positions in March 2021 to record the presence of harbour porpoises. The operated monitoring stations (Holnis, Bredgrund, Schleisand and Damp) cover the area of the Schleswig-Holstein Baltic Sea and are intended to close the gap in the monitoring network between Fehmarn and Denmark.

Results:

Untersuchungen zur Habitatnutzung von Schweinswalen in der westlichen Ostsee mittels passiv-akustischem Monitoring 2021-2023 (PDF, 2MB, Datei ist barrierefrei)

https://www.schleswig-holstein.de/DE/fachinhalte/A/artenschutz/Downloads/untersuchungenHabitatnutzungSchweinswale.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=1

Funding: OFB (L’Office Français de la Biodiversité), 400.000 EUR

Project Details:
The European Atlantic is changing rapidly, and it is essential that neighbouring countries have access to up-to-date robust information on the status of key species and populations so that future monitoring and management can be directed effectively and efficiently to achieve and maintain favourable conservation status of species and good environmental status of European Atlantic waters. The "Small Cetaceans in European Atlantic waters and the North Sea (SCANS)" survey is being planned for summer 2022. The objective of SCANS-IV is to estimate the abundance of cetacean species in shelf and oceanic waters of the European Atlantic through a large-scale multinational aerial and shipboard survey in July 2022. This is the most appropriate survey month because of the higher probability of good sighting conditions, and also to ensure that results are comparable with those from SCANS surveys conducted in 1994, 2005/2007 and 2016 (Hammond et al. 2002, 2013, 2021). Thus, this project will represent the fourth survey in the SCANS series. SCANS-IV will deliver regionally coordinated synoptic surveys in shelf and offshore waters of the European Atlantic. It will generate robust abundance estimates for regularly occurring whale and dolphin species and improve power to detect trends in shelf and offshore species. The outputs of the project are timely for EU Member States obligations for reporting under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD Article 8: due 2024) and the next reporting round under the Habitats Directive (Article 17: 2019 - 2024) (where applicable) and allow OSPAR/HELCOM assessments. The estimates are also needed for impact assessments of offshore industries and fisheries.
The project will be achieved through the successful completion of six work packages. The first two WPs (WP1 & WP2) focus on collecting data on cetacean abundance and distribution through implementation of aerial surveys on the continental shelf and shipboard surveys in offshore waters. The data will be analysed in WP3 to generate abundance estimates, trends and perform spatio-temporal habitat modelling. WP4 will consider the long-term security of the large-scale cetacean monitoring SCANS programme in the Northeast Atlantic and propose a governance structure to ensure the continuation into the future. WPs 5 & 6 will focus on dissemination of results, project management and reporting.

Results:

Estimates of cetacean abundance in European Atlantic waters in summer 2022 from the SCANS-IV aerial and shipboard surveys. Final report published 29 September 2023. 64 pp.

https://tinyurl.com/3ynt6swa

Cooperation Partners:

Projektkoordination Dr. Anita Gilles, ITAW-Stiftung Tierärztliche Hochschule Hannover

University of St Andrews, United Kingdom

Joint Nature Conservation Committee, United Kingdom

Wageningen Marine Research, Netherlands

Aarhus University, Denmark

Swedish Museum of Natural History, Sweden

La Rochelle University, France

Instituto Español de Oceanografia, Spain

University of Aveiro, CESAM - Centre of Environmental and Marine Studies and Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas, Portugal

Funding: SwAM; Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management, 93.700 EUR

Project Details:
The European Atlantic is changing rapidly, and it is essential that neighbouring countries have access to up-to-date robust information on the status of key species and populations so that future monitoring and management can be directed effectively and efficiently to achieve and maintain favourable conservation status of species and good environmental status of European Atlantic waters. The "Small Cetaceans in European Atlantic waters and the North Sea (SCANS)" survey is being planned for summer 2022. The objective of SCANS-IV is to estimate the abundance of cetacean species in shelf and oceanic waters of the European Atlantic through a large-scale multinational aerial and shipboard survey in July 2022. This is the most appropriate survey month because of the higher probability of good sighting conditions, and also to ensure that results are comparable with those from SCANS surveys conducted in 1994, 2005/2007 and 2016 (Hammond et al. 2002, 2013, 2021). Thus, this project will represent the fourth survey in the SCANS series. SCANS-IV will deliver regionally coordinated synoptic surveys in shelf and offshore waters of the European Atlantic. It will generate robust abundance estimates for regularly occurring whale and dolphin species and improve power to detect trends in shelf and offshore species. The outputs of the project are timely for EU Member States obligations for reporting under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD Article 8: due 2024) and the next reporting round under the Habitats Directive (Article 17: 2019 - 2024) (where applicable) and allow OSPAR/HELCOM assessments. The estimates are also needed for impact assessments of offshore industries and fisheries.
The project will be achieved through the successful completion of six work packages. The first two WPs (WP1 & WP2) focus on collecting data on cetacean abundance and distribution through implementation of aerial surveys on the continental shelf and shipboard surveys in offshore waters. The data will be analysed in WP3 to generate abundance estimates, trends and perform spatio-temporal habitat modelling. WP4 will consider the long-term security of the large-scale cetacean monitoring SCANS programme in the Northeast Atlantic and propose a governance structure to ensure the continuation into the future. WPs 5 & 6 will focus on dissemination of results, project management and reporting.

Results:

Estimates of cetacean abundance in European Atlantic waters in summer 2022 from the SCANS-IV aerial and shipboard surveys. Final

report published 29 September 2023. 64 pp.

https://tinyurl.com/3ynt6swa

Cooperation Partners:

Projektkoordination Dr. Anita Gilles, ITAW-Stiftung Tierärztliche Hochschule Hannover

University of St Andrews, United Kingdom

Joint Nature Conservation Committee, United Kingdom

Wageningen Marine Research, Netherlands

Aarhus University, Denmark

Swedish Museum of Natural History, Sweden

La Rochelle University, France

Instituto Español de Oceanografia, Spain

University of Aveiro, CESAM - Centre of Environmental and Marine Studies and Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas, Portugal

Funding: Ministerium für Energie­wende, Klimaschutz, Umwelt und Natur, 308.493 EUR

Project Details:
Common Eider (Somateria mollissima) is classified as endangered in Europe due to continuous The population declines. Meanwhile, its occurrence along the coast of Schleswig-Holstein has potential for conflict with the culturally established and economically important fisheries.
This pilot study will develop approaches to startle common eiders from mussel farms and allow a sustainable coexistence of conventional fisheries in the Baltic habitat and protected species. The main focus is the protection of mussel farms against common eider predation. However, the results can potentially be transferred to fisheries, to prevent unintentional bycatch of birds in gillnets.
Post-mortem examinations of common eiders will be carried out simultaneously, to find out about potential pathological causes for the population decline and gain an insight into the health status of the population. These examinations include bacteriological, virological and parasitological analyses. Furthermore, toxicological analyses will deliver information about environmental pollution load.

Funding: Niedersächsische Tierseuchenkasse, 134.050 EUR

Project Details:
The project aims to develope and to evaluate a filtration system that can be used in natural vetilated poultry houses in transistion periods to prevent from AI entries via air. The lifespan of filters, filter efficiencies and the impact of air filtration on the quality of climate in natural ventilated barns are unknown. Therefore, investigations will be conducted at a natural ventilated turkey barn, equiped with a fine dust filtration system.

Cooperation Partners:

Big Dutchman AG

Funding: QS Fachgesellschaft Geflügel GmbH, 40.000 EUR

Project Details:
The aim of the project is to scientifically evaluate a combination of different approaches in practice and to comprehensively analyze whether the following measures significantly improve animal health and, in particular, reliably prevent enterococcal infections.

Funding: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, 204.886 EUR

Project Details:
In this research project, systematic investigations on the development and the role of the immune response during Enterococcus cecorum infections in chickens will be conducted for the first time. Until now it is unknown, how the unspecific and specific immune system reacts on the infection.The results of this research project may be fundamental for the development of vaccines against this very important pathogen of broiler type birds.

Funding: Industry (Feed manifacturing) , 20.347 EUR