A novel survey of raptor collections in Europe and their potential to provide samples for pan-European contaminant monitoring

Abstract

This paper provides a novel survey of current collections of frozen raptor carcasses and tissue samples in natural history museums (NHMs), environmental specimen banks (ESBs) and other research collections (ORCs e.g. at universities and research institutes) across Europe and assesses the extent to which collections might support pan-European raptor biomonitoring through the provision of samples for contaminant analyses. The paper is based on questionnaire responses received in late 2018 and early 2019 from 116 institutions. Issues covered include the number of raptor carcasses and diversity of raptor species arriving annually at collections, the number of carcasses stored in freezers, the extent to which collections retain frozen tissue samples, what records are kept of carcasses and tissue samples, constraints to expanding collections of frozen carcasses and tissues and the extent to which collections currently engage in ecotoxicological research and monitoring. Our findings show that collections in Europe receive well over 5000 raptor carcasses per annum, and that NHMs are the key recipients of raptor carcasses for most countries. Collections in Europe probably hold well over 10,000 raptor carcasses in their freezers, offering a substantial resource of frozen raptor carcasses and tissues from recent years. Moreover, these carcasses include good specimen numbers for species that have been prioritized for pan-European contaminant monitoring. Collections are becoming digitized aiding access to samples. However, freezer capacity is a key constraint to retention of carcasses, and contaminant biomonitoring is novel for most NHMs. Our findings on the repository and availability of frozen raptor carcasses and tissues held by collections in Europe can enable greater use of these specimens for pan-European contaminant monitoring in support of better chemicals management. We highlight opportunities to further optimize raptor collections for pan-European contaminant monitoring.