Case studies marine pollution

We have collected several case studies on marine pollution. The studies are either by Belgian authers or on the Belgian part of the North Sea. The studies covers different trophic levels of the ecosystem.

You can find comprehensible sumaries of these cases studies below

Pollution and marine mammals

• Organochlorine pesticides in harbour porpoises
• Toxin analysis in beached sperm whales

Pollution and sea birds

• The relation between pollutants and disease in guillemots
• Possible causes for breading failure in common terns

Pollution and pelagic fishes

Pollution and benthic fishes

Pollution and zoobenthos

Pollution and scavengers

Pollution and zooplankton

Pollution and algae

Covaci, A.; Van de Vijver, K.; De Coen, W.; Das, K.; Bouquegneau, J.-M.; Blust, R.; Schepens, P. (2002). Determination of organohalogenated contaminants in liver of harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) stranded on the Belgian North Sea coast. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 44(10): 1157-1169

Holsbeek, L.; Joiris, C.R.; Debacker, V.; Ali, B.I.; Roose, P.; Nellissen, J.P.; Gobert, S.; Bouquegneau, J.-M.; Bossicart, M. (1999). Heavy metals, organochlorines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sperm whales stranded in the southern North Sea during the 1994/1995 winter. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 38(4): 304-313

Debacker, V.; Holsbeek, L.; Tapia, G.; Gobert, S.; Joiris, C.R.; Jauniaux, T.; Coignoul, F.; Bouquegneau, J.-M. (1997). Ecotoxicological and pathological studies of common guillemots Uria aalge beached on the Belgian coast during six successive wintering periods (1989-90 to 1994-95). Dis. Aquat. Org. 29(3): 159-168

van den Heuvel-Greve, M.J.; Hoekstein, M.S.J.; Lefèvre, F.O.B.; Meininger, P.J.; Vethaak, A.D. (2003). Mogelijke oorzaken van slecht broedsucces in de visdiefkolonie bij Terneuzen; Stand van zaken en aanbevelingen. Rapport RIKZ, 2003.037: Middelburg, the Netherlands. 38 pp.