With the Environmental Specimen Bank, research can travel into the past - and provide answers to environmental policy issues of today and tomorrow.
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Scientists have been collecting samples from human beings and the environment, such as birds, plants, mussels and deer, for the Environmental Specimen Bank throughout Germany since the 1980s.
Journey into the past
In the 1970s, the German government invited a group of high-ranking scientists. For the first time in Germany, legal regulations were created to protect people and the environment from pollutants. Politicians and scientists were looking for a way to check the success of these new laws. And so the Environmental Specimen Bank was born.
How is the Environmental Specimen Bank organised?
Today, environmental researchers use the historical samples from the Environmental Specimen Bank primarily as evidence when critical chemicals are under scrutiny.
As if on a journey into the past, they can evaluate the contamination of samples from long ago. The results show them whether the chemical levels in the samples of the Environmental Specimen Bank are increasing or decreasing over time. The data can then question the use of a chemical and call for policy action - or give the all-clear.
Lead
administration and research
sample collecting, archiving, analysing
Federal Institute of Hydrology, Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen Nürnberg, University Trier, Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology, Eurofins GfA Lab Service GmBH
How does sample processing work?
Environmental samples
Environmental experts collect environmental samples from ecosystems all over Germany. Most samples are prepared in mobile laboratories immediately after sampling and then cooled to -150°C above liquid nitrogen
The cold chain is then always maintained: the environmental samples are first ground at ultra low temperatures in so-called cryogenic mills, then portioned and finally permanently stored at temperatures below 150°C in the archive for environmental samples above liquid nitrogen.
Environmental samples
Environmental experts collect environmental samples from ecosystems all over Germany. Most samples are prepared in mobile laboratories immediately after sampling and then cooled to -150°C above liquid nitrogen
The cold chain is then always maintained: the environmental samples are first ground at ultra low temperatures in so-called cryogenic mills, then portioned and finally permanently stored at temperatures below 150°C in the archive for environmental samples above liquid nitrogen.
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Human samples
Human samples are collected by experts under medical supervision. They are - unlike environmental samples - processed and stored individually. Whole blood, blood plasma and 24-hour urine samples are portioned immediately after collection.
The samples are then placed in a mobile tank cooled to -150°C and taken to the archive for human samples.
Human samples
Human samples are collected by experts under medical supervision. They are - unlike environmental samples - processed and stored individually. Whole blood, blood plasma and 24-hour urine samples are portioned immediately after collection.
The samples are then placed in a mobile tank cooled to -150°C and taken to the archive for human samples.
For the Environmental Specimen Bank, a total of 15 sample types of animals and plants are collected in 14 areas. In addition to the North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts, these typical German ecosystems also include rivers, lakes, agriculturally used areas, managed and less used forests as well as cities.
Fishermen catch bream from e.g. rivers Rhine, Elbe and Danube
Poplar leaves are collected in the conurbations of Saarbrücken and Halle-Leipzig
Zebra mussels grow in the waters for a year and are then harvested
the fishing season for eelpout is in early summer at North Sea and Baltic
Beech leaves come from forests, agricultural and background areas
Deer provide links between chemicals in terrestrial ecosystems and human food
The shoots of conifers are sampled in spring for the ESB
Blue mussels are from coastal areas in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea
Earthworms originate from urban areas as well as agricultural areas
Herring gull eggs are taken from the islands of Mellum, Trischen and Heuwiese
Suspended particulate matter supplement fish and mussels from inland waters
Part of the blood is processed into blood plasma by centrifugation.
During sample collection about 150 mL of blood is taken under medical supervision.
Together with the 24h urine samples, all samples are stored at -150°C.
It is important for international environmental protection that environmental specimen banks work closely together. The use of mercury, for example, but also of a number of organic chemicals such as DDT or brominated flame retardants are now banned in many countries. Environmental Specimen Banks can show whether chemical policies are working and whether substance pollution is really declining worldwide. To do this, it is useful to link pollution data for humans and the environment and to promote the Environmental Specimen Bank idea where they have not been existing so far, for example in developing countries.
Find out more!
More information on the website of the Environmental Specimen Bank