Overview of research projects

Funding: Industry (Veterinary pharmaceuticals/Vaccines), 141.855 EUR

Project Details:
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Funding: Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur, 50.000 EUR

Project Details:
Mit dem Innovation plus-Projekt wird ein Training klinisch-praktischer und kommunikativer Fertigkeiten mit anschließender formativer elektronischer eOSCE-Prüfung (Electronic Objective Structured Clinical Examination) für Studierende, die ihren Zyklus des Praktischen Jahres in der Klinik für Heimtiere, Reptilien, Zier- und Wildvögel der Stiftung Tierärztliche Hochschule Hannover absolvieren, konzipiert und umgesetzt werden. Das Training dient der Vorbereitung der Studierenden auf ihr Praktisches Jahr sowie der tierärztlichen Tätigkeit im Anschluss an das Studium. In dem Zusammenhang werden Modelle und Simulatoren sowie Lernstationen für den Heimtiersektor erstellt für die Vermittlung klinisch-praktischer und kommunikativer Fertigkeiten. Im Anschluss an das praktische Training erfolgt eine Überprüfung der erlernten Fertigkeiten mittels eOSCE-Prüfung.

Funding: Drittmittelprojekt, gefördert durch die Fritz-Ahrberg-Stiftung., 46.000 EUR

Project Details:
The reduction of the salt content is a regularly discussed topic in recent years, which should be considered by the food processing industry, for example through a reduction or the replacement of sodium chloride with other substances such as potassium or magnesium chloride. In addition to the sensory properties that are mainly perceived by consumers, however, technological and microbiological parameters are also important. The aim of this study is therefore to produce raw sausages and cooked cured meats both with reduced sodium chloride concentrations and with the addition of potassium and magnesium chloride and to analyse both the sensory and other parameters. The aim is to show which (minimum) concentrations of sodium chloride or salt substitutes can be used to produce products that are acceptable for consumers in terms of food quality and, in particular, safety.

Project Details:
Ziel des Projekts ist die Ozonbegasung als alternative Behandlungsmethode zur herkömmlichen Antibiotikatherapie der bakteriellen Endometritis bei der Stute zu untersuchen. Bei festgestellter Eignung könnte die Etablierung dieser Therapiemethode den Antibiotikaeinsatz in der Fortpflanzungsmedizin beim Pferd senken.

Cooperation Partners:

Pferdeklinik Mühlen

Institut für Veterinär-Pathologie, Universität Leipzig

Project Details:
Ziel des Projektes ist das Vorkommen von Anti-Sperma-Antikörpern und Leukozyten im Samen einer Population von Warmblutzuchthengsten zu untersuchen. Weiterhin sollen die Auswirkungen von Anti-Sperma-Antikörpern und Leukozyten auf die Spermaqualität der betroffenen Hengste und die Entwicklung belegungsinduzierter Entzündungsreaktionen bei Stuten erforscht werden.

Cooperation Partners:

Niedersächsisches Landgestüt Celle

Funding: Technische Informationsbibliothek Hannover (TIB); FKZ 56000016-39/TiHo, 3.505 EUR

Project Details:
The topic of "mobile slaughtering" is currently moving into the focus of the meat industry, as this particularly meets the aspects of regionality and animal welfare. It can be assumed that animals are subjected to more stress during conventional slaughtering, especially during transport to the slaughterhouse, than when they are gently stunned and slaughtered in their usual environment. So-called "mobile slaughtering" is subject to special and partly new legal backgrounds with associated official approval procedures. Within the framework of the project, a teaching unit for veterinary students on the subject of "mobile slaughtering" is to be created as a supplement to and comparison with conventional slaughtering. The teaching unit will address legal backgrounds, animal welfare as well as food quality and safety. In addition, further teaching material (presentations, legal texts, etc.) will be created, prepared and made available to the students on the TiHo-Moodle learning platform together with the teaching unit. The teaching unit can be used by all students of veterinary medicine in the German-speaking countries via the portal twillo. In addition, it is tangential to the field of agriculture (agrarian sector), the butcher and butchery sector, as well as other veterinarians who are already active in the public veterinary sector and come into contact with the associated licensing procedures. Likewise, the teaching unit enables the interested consumer community to gain insight into this field.

Funding: QS-Wissenschaftsfonds, 30.000 EUR

Project Details:
The aim of this study is to determine the sound level in pigs' nursery compartments and to detect the effects of animal behaviour and barn technology on the sound level.
In addition, occupational safety will be considered in the study by identifying particular sound events to which both, animals and humans are exposed, and quantifying them with regard to the sound pressure level. The aim is to generate representative data on noise pollution in today's piglet rearing in Germany, to determine the origin of noise pollution and - if necessary - to identify potential for improvement in terms of animal welfare and occupational safety.

Results:

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.livsci.2024.105410

Funding: EU, 8.320 EUR

Project Details:
The overall aim of the HELCOM BLUES project is to support regional capacity, coordination and cooperation with regards to developing effective measures to secure good status of the marine environment. This includes provisioning, and making available, necessary knowledge to advance the development and implementation of joint measures addressing common pressures, as well as to provide concrete support to the decision-making process within the Baltic Sea region.
The task carried out by TiHo focuses on highly mobile and under-reported groups (here: cetaceans), and considers several aspects identified in recent HELCOM review processes to be knowledge/assessment gaps and aspects of high regional priority. The harbour porpoise can be categorised as both a highly mobile and an under-reported species in the Baltic Sea region. At present, there are no functional regional HELCOM indicator(s) to assess status for abundance or distribution, which are two of the primary Marine Strategy Framework Directive criteria under MSFD D1. This clear gap was identified as a high priority for the HELCOM region. This task will provide support for the HELCOM indicator team and focus on improving methods and operational assessments of harbour porpoise abundance by HOLAS III, and on harmonising methods of assessment with other EU regions (i.e. OSPAR and HELCOM). The main aspects addressed by TiHo are:
1) Establishment of a harmonised approach to indicator development for harbour porpoises between HELCOM and OSPAR (of particular relevance to shared marine areas);
2) Assessing trend in abundance for assessment of the Belt Sea population;

Results:

final report of the EU project "HELCOM BLUES"

https://blues.helcom.fi/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/HELCOM-BLUES_Activity_2.4-Harbour-porpoise-Main-report.pdf

Cooperation Partners:

Project coordinator

Helsinki Commission (HELCOM), Finland

Partners

Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW), Germany

University of Hamburg, Germany

Natural Resources Institute Finland (LUKE), Finland

Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), Finland

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Aquatic Resources (SLU Aqua), Sweden

Stockholm University (SU), Sweden

Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI), Sweden

Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management (SwAM), Sweden

Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech), Estonia

University of Tartu (UT), Estonia

Center for Environmental Policy (AAPC), Lithuania

Latvian Institute of Aquatic Ecology, Latvia

Funding: Common Wadden Sea Secretariat, 21.010 EUR

Project Details:
Harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) and grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) are the largest animals found in the Wadden Sea in Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. Since the seals were placed under the protection of the Trilateral Wadden Sea Agreement and especially since the establishment of the Wadden Sea National Parks in Lower Saxony, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein, the severely depleted populations of seals and grey seals have been able to recover. The unique value of the marine mammals' habitat was confirmed in 2009 when the Wadden Sea was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Seals and grey seals are "charismatic species" and therefore play an important role for recreation and tourism. This is also true for the Wadden Sea National Parks, where marine mammals are popular and serve as a tourist marketing tool.
The marine mammals are promoted as a tourist attraction in various places in the Wadden Sea, especially through organised seal watching trips. They thus represent an important
ecosystem service contributing to value generation for local economies.
These human-wildlife relationships are not without conflict: for example, the overlap of the high tourist season with the seals' whelping and nursing season from mid-June onwards is problematic. While observation cruises carried out by established shipping companies adhere to standards such as minimum distances to the seal banks and navigating at an adapted speed, private pleasure boats, wind and kite surfers are much more difficult to control. At the same time, less national park-specific tourism offers with event character have also increased in recent years. It is possible that this trend will continue due to the increased
domestic tourism demand observed during the Corona crisis. The effects of these different forms of tourism in the Wadden Sea on the stress levels and behaviour of marine mammals have not yet been sufficiently researched. Therefore, these questions will be investigated from an international and multidisciplinary perspective.
Information on behaviour can be obtained through observations and telemetry, and existing data will be analysed in this regard.
On the other hand, the importance of marine mammals for tourism will be investigated from a tourism perspective. The aim of the project is to present a scientifically sound framework that takes into account both the interests of wildlife and nature conservation in terms of minimising disturbance, and at the same time the needs of the tourism sector and the local economy in terms of business in terms of enhancing tourist attractions and developing attractive wildlife and nature experiences.

Cooperation Partners:

Prof. Dr. Julius Arnegger, International Tourism Management, DITF - German Institute for Tourism Research, West Coast University of Applied Sciences, 25746 Heide, Germany

Funding: Nationalparverwaltung "Nieders. Wattenmeer" Wilhelmshaven, 39.080 EUR

Project Details:
The aim of the project is a survey of the local grey seal population in the entire Lower Saxony and Hamburg Wadden Sea during the birthing season (November-December) and at the time of the fur change (March-April).
On five trilaterally coordinated dates (three during the birthing season; two during the fur-change period), airborne surveys will be conducted with a single-engine aircraft. During the aerial surveys of the tidal flats, a high-resolution SLR camera will be used to photograph the haul-outs. In order to determine the number of young born as well as the total population, the photos taken are subsequently analyzed on the computer.

Results:

Schop J., Abel C., Brasseur S., Galatius A., Jeß A., Meise K., Meyer J., van Neer A., Stejskal O., Siebert U., Teilmann J., Thøstesen C. B. (2022) Grey Seal Numbers in the Wadden Sea and on Helgoland in 2021-2022. Common Wadden Sea Secretariat, Wilhelmshaven, Germany.

https://www.waddensea-worldheritage.org/resources/2021-2022-grey-seal-report