Research

Funding: Ministerium für Energiewende, Klimaschutz, Umwelt und Natur des Landes Schleswig-Holstein, 64.600 EUR

Project Details:
Raccoon dogs and raccoons are neozoa, invasive species that are not originally situated in Germany. Both species are potential reservoirs for infectious diseases and as oppotunistic carnivores they can also influence our native fauna as predators and competitors.
In our project we investigated in total 140 animals over two years. We want to analyse the influence and the risk of these alien species on our native fauna. Therefore, we want to assess the health status, especially the occurance of zoonotic and infectious diseases and the nutrition of the animals.
The analysis of the samples and data is still ongoing. All animals underwent a full necropsy and the analysis of histopathological, bacteriological, virological, parasitological and toxicological samples is taking place. In addition, stomach content analysis and age determination is done.

Results:

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0817/12/12/1379

Funding: Verein der Förderer der Wildtierforschung e.V., 13.000 EUR

Project Details:
Wildlife losses are a commonly recognized problem when mowing land for forage and silage production. Although the causes and rates of loss for individual wildlife species are fairly well quantified, the effects of mowing on medium- or long-term population trends have been little studied. This is especially true in light of the increasing cultivation of bioenergy crops in two-crop systems in traditional cropland areas and in areas with intensive grassland management in recent years.
Against this background, it is urgently necessary to look for pragmatic ways of reducing wildlife losses that can be integrated into agricultural work processes by simple means and that promise a high degree of effectiveness. The present concept is based on the use of acoustic game deterrents or sirens, which, for example, attached to a mowing vehicle can lead to the startling of animals present in the mowing area. In order to effectively design such a game deterrent system, it is first necessary to gather the basic theoretical knowledge. In later follow-up projects, this information can be used to develop a practical game siren. The aim of the present study concept is to develop the basics for an acoustic game deterrent in the following work packages. The work packages a and b are designed as literature research :
a. Literature search and presentation of the audible range of target species, i.e., what frequency ranges and sound intensities appear most promising for acoustic game deterrence.
b. Literature search on sound propagation in agricultural areas.
c. Sound measurements in grassland: Here, the sound pressure of suitable frequencies at different heights and distances to the emission source as well as in different dense grass stands will be analyzed in a simple experiment. Since the focus of the study is in Western Europe, the following animal species are defined as target species in the literature study:
° roe deer,
° brown hare,
° wild rabbit,
° pheasant,
° partridge,
° mallard duck
° meadow birds (e.g. lapwing, curlew, oystercatcher)

Funding: Ministerium für Energie­wende, Klimaschutz, Umwelt und Natur, 71.822 EUR

Project Details:
As the most common marine mammal species in Schleswig-Holstein, sick or dead seals cause most of the seal hunters' missions. In close cooperation with them, the animals are transferred to the Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research (ITAW) in Büsum for further examinations. These examinations include the complete, standardised autopsy of selected animals, further examinations such as histology, bacteriology, virology, serology and parasitology, as well as the collection and preservation of samples for later analyses or other research projects. The final assessment of the causes of disease and death serves, among other things, to record risk factors for the seal populations in Schleswig-Holstein. In addition, possible human (anthropogenic) influences on the seals will be analysed. However, the investigations will also examine the possible significance of the growing seal populations as a reservoir of infectious diseases and whether viruses move back and forth between the wild animal populations and thus mutations of the pathogens are possible. Since the project is based on close cooperation with the seal hunters, the scientific knowledge gained will be incorporated into their work. The ITAW, among others, trains the seal hunters in the handling of marine mammals, but also in the recognition of infectious diseases. For them as first contact persons, the ongoing development and review of hygiene measures, infectious diseases and documentation materials play an important role. Microbiological examinations are important here, for example, because infectious agents such as seal distemper virus, influenza viruses, brucella and erysipelas have repeatedly been detected in seals in the past, which can be dangerous for seals and in some cases have zoonotic potential (infecting humans). In addition, the observations of the seal hunters are very valuable for the work at the institute. For example, if they report abnormalities in the animal or in the animal population, the investigations at ITAW can be adapted. Especially in view of the current bird flu epidemic along the coasts of Schleswig-Holstein, the detection of the H5N8 bird flu serotype on seals by the ITAW last year and the worldwide Corona pandemic, the virological investigations are to be intensified again in the current project year.

Results:

Bericht (PDF) Untersuchungen zum Gesundheitszustand von Seehunden in Schleswig-Holstein im Jahr 2022

https://www.schleswig-holstein.de/DE/fachinhalte/A/artenschutz/Downloads/seehundbericht2022.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=2

Funding: ASCOBANS (Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic, North East Atlantic, Irish and North Sea), 22.760 EUR

Project Details:
There is an increasing concern on the effects of underwater noise on hearing of cetaceans. However, cochlear frequency maps (i.e. distribution of frequencies along the cochlear spiral within the inner ear) are still lacking for marine mammal species. The aim of this study is to predict the cochlear frequency map for harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena), based on morphometrics of the sensory cells of the organ of Corti (hearing organ). Once the map for a species is known, it will be possible to identify the frequencies that are impaired once lesions are found in the inner ear, and have better understanding of the consequences for individual to have a hearing loss in a particular hearing range. In cases of noise-induced hearing loss, it will be possible to extrapolate the characteristics of potential sound sources that have triggered a damage. This map will be a crucial tool for management of the effects of underwater noise on hearing in porpoises, as well as improved decision-making in conservation plans for harbour porpoises and other marine mammals.

Results:

Morell, M., Rojas, L., Caplot, A., Siebert, U. 2022. Prediction of the cochlear frequency maps of harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena). Report to ASCOBANS (reference SSFA-ASCOBANS-2022-002_TiHo)

https://www.ascobans.org/sites/default/files/document/ascobans_ac28_inf8.6_report-cochlear-frequency-maps-hp_0.pdf

Funding: BFG, 9.212 EUR

Project Details:
In this project, a diagnostic examination of nutria shot in 2020 and 2021is carried out, and liver tissue is made available for chemical analysis. For this purpose, 41 individuals from Lower Saxony will be autopsied, including a histologic examination of lung, liver, kidney and spleen tissue. In addition, an individual age determination (adult animal/juvenile animal), sex, nutritional status, general health status and a sampling of liver tissue will be provided. Chemical residue analyses will be carried out by the BFG. The diagnostic findings are presented and summarized in an Excel sheet and final reports per sampling.

Results:

In this project, a diagnostic examination of nutria shot in 2020 and 2021 was carried out, and liver tissue is made available for chemical analysis. For this purpose, 41 individuals from Lower Saxony were autopsied, including a histologic examination of lung, liver, kidney and spleen tissue. In addition, an individual age determination (adult animal/juvenile animal), sex, nutritional status, general health status and a sampling of liver tissue was provided. Chemical residue analyses were carried out by the BFG, the results were not yet reported. The diagnostic findings were presented and summarized in an Excel sheet and final reports per sampling. All animals showed typical traumatic, death-related injuries with histologically recognizable agonal changes in the lungs and the circulatory system. In addition, low-grade diffuse liver lipidoses were found in three animals, and high-grade urolithiasis was found in one animal. Five animals were pregnant females. Chronic interstitial pneumonia with a suspected infectious, presumably viral cause was diagnosed in 27 animals.

Funding: Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur Niedersachsen, 100.630 EUR

Project Details:
Das beantragte Projekt ConnEx adressiert mit den Lehrenden und den technischen wie didaktischen Service- und Support-Einrichtungen an den niedersächsischen Hochschulen zwei für die Dachinitiative Hochschule.digital Niedersachsen strategisch relevante Akteursgruppen und zielt auf eine strategische Förderung der Vernetzung, des Austauschs und Transfers innerhalb dieser Gruppen. Die Projektleitung hat die Leuphana Universität Lüneburg.

Results:

https://hochschuledigital-niedersachsen.de/home/connex-vernetzung-von-expertinnen-und-services/

Cooperation Partners:

Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaft und Kunst, Hochschule für Bildende

Künste Braunschweig; Hochschule Emden/Leer, Hochschule Hannover, Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover, Hochschule Osnabrück, Jade

Hochschule, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, Leibniz Universität Hannover,

Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Ostfalia Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaften, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Technische Universität Clausthal, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Stiftung Universität Hildesheim, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Universität Osnabrück, Universität Vechta, ELAN e.V.

Funding: Landesjägerschaf Niedersachsen e.V. - Anerkannter Naturschutzverband, 22.863 EUR

Project Details:
The aim of this project is to compile the key statements from the literature published since 2009 on the subject of the influence of predation on selected small game species, meadow birds and other types of agricultural land. In addition, an overview of species protection projects in Germany over the last 15 years and the species mentioned is created, with special consideration of projects that are only known locally/regionally. The reason for this study arises from the fact that many species of open land, including those of wet grassland, have seen continuous and sometimes significant population declines in recent decades. This is often explained by the change in our cultural landscape. The focus here is on the changes in agricultural management forms in recent decades, as well as the general disappearance of suitable habitats, for example due to the cultivation of original habitats such as marshes, lowlands and moors and the wide and open wet grassland. In addition to the necessary programs for the conservation and improvement of these habitats and the habitat quality, the factors of predation influence and predation management deserve just as much attention. Numerous studies confirm this importance. The predation is to be placed in a close reciprocal relationship with the habitat and the weather. Optimum weather conditions and high-quality habitat enable high rearing rates and low mortality rates, so that losses by predators can be compensated. However, under today's often suboptimal habitat conditions in our cultivated landscape and an additional high density of predators, it is not possible to achieve sufficient rearing rates to stabilize the corresponding populations.The aspect of habitat quality is given more consideration in more recent studies than in the studies up to 2009. In addition, there are the results of a number of species protection projects that have not yet been scientifically published, but which undoubtedly provide valuable information for dealing with the predation issue.

Funding: Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie, BSH, 40.256 EUR

Project Details:
The aim of the research project is to answer scientific questions related to effects of offshore wind farms on harbour porpoises. Therefore, effects that occur during construction as well as cumulative effects from the construction of offshore wind farms will be investigated and an assessment concept will be developed. First, data from harbour porpoise click detectors are evaluated, which provide important information on the occurrence of harbour porpoises. The objective of this research project is to establish the cause-effect relationship between sound exposure and harbour porpoise occurrence as well as to evaluate the effectiveness of measures used to reduce effects on harbour porpoises (noise mitigation and deterrence).
The work in this project aims to answer the following question:
1)Are the applied noise mitigation measures during the construction of offshore wind farms sufficient to ensure the protection of the harbour porpoise?
An evaluation that takes into account all constructed wind farms has not been carried out yet, but is imperative in order to evaluate the success of the application and further developments of noise mitigation measures. The evaluation of the current noise mitigation concept and the state of the art using data and findings from previous projects make an important contribution to the planning of the upcoming further expansion of offshore wind energy.

Funding: Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie, BSH, 80.857 EUR

Project Details:
The aim of the research project is to answer scientific questions related to the effects of offshore wind farms on harbour porpoises in German waters. Therefore, both the sound-related effects on the population of harbour porpoises that occur during construction and the cumulative effects from the construction of offshore wind farms, for which an assessment concept will be developed (FP 2), will be investigated. The objective of this research project is to establish the cause-effect relationship between sound exposure and harbour porpoise occurrence as well as to evaluate the effectiveness of measures used to reduce effects on harbour porpoises (noise mitigation and deterrence). First, underwater noise recordings during the construction of offshore wind farms will be analysed with regard to the noise emission from the pile driving. Based on this data and considering physical area-specific parameters, the sound propagation will be modelled. The modelling enables to estimate noise emissions in the entire study area. A model will be used to determine whether the existing data are sufficient to explain effects on the occurrence of harbour porpoises. In a study, data will be identified, criteria established and, with a model, their applicability tested to investigate cumulative effects of offshore wind farm construction on the occurrence of harbour porpoises.
The work in this project will answer the following questions:
1)How can the effects of anthropogenic noise emissions during the construction of offshore wind turbines on harbor porpoises be assessed cumulatively?
2)Can the collected data on pile-driving noise, deterrence and porpoise detections as well as construction-related shipping sufficiently explain the effect of the construction work on the occurrence of harbour porpoises?
An evaluation that takes into account all constructed wind farms has not been carried out yet, but is imperative in the future, among other things to evaluate the success of the application and further developments of noise mitigation measures. The evaluation of the current noise mitigation concept and state of the art using data and findings from the previous projects make an important contribution to the planning of the upcoming further expansion of offshore wind energy.

Cooperation Partners:

JASCO Applied Sciences

Funding: Bundesministerium für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft (BMEL); Bundesanstalt für Landwirtschaft und Ernährung, 7.975 EUR

Project Details:
Development of a multifunctional barn concept for the animal-friendly keeping of dual-purpose chickens and brother cocks from chicks to food

Cooperation Partners:

Hochschule Osnabrück, Tierhaltung und Tierprodukte (Prof. Dr. R. Andersson)

Fachhochschule Südwestfalen, Fachbereich Agrarwirtschaft, Prof. Dr. M. Mergenthaler

Universität Bonn, Institut für Tierwissenschaften, Dr. I. Tiemann

Universität Bonn, Verfahrenstechnik in der Tierischen Erzeugung, Prof. Dr. W. Büscher