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Metadata: Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) harbour seal contaminants
Abstract:
The data set comprises measurements of contaminant concentrations in the blubber of harbour seals. Samples were collected from five populations around the UK coast: the Wash, southeast England; the Tay estuary, southeast Scotland; the Moray Firth, northeast Scotland; Orkney, north Scotland; and Islay and Jura, southwest Scotland. The data were collected between 24 January and 26 October 2003. Seals were captured on land, hauled out with the use of hand-held hoop nets, or caught at sea in tangle nets deployed from boats. After capture, the seals were weighed and sedated, and classified as adult or subadult on the basis of mass and body length measurements. Animals greater than 110 cm standard body length (nose–tail) were considered to be adult and those between 100 and 110 cm as subadult. Animals less than 100 cm were excluded from the study. One dead seal was also included in the analysis. Blubber biopsy samples were collected and stored at -20 °C, then extracted using the Soxhlet method. Lipid content was determined gravimetrically while Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) was used to determine wet weight concentrations of contaminants per lipid proportion of the sample. The work focused on polybrominated diphenyl ether (PDBE) and polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) concentrations in seal blubber. PBDEs are the main components of brominated flame retardant chemicals, and both these and PCBs are thought to increase seal mortality. The five seal populations were chosen following differential mortality during the 2002 phocine distemper epidemic in order to determine whether contaminant concentrations had influenced mortality rates associated with that disease. The data were collected by researchers from the Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) at the University of St Andrews and the University of Lancaster Department of Environmental Science. The data are held at the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC).
Data holder:
British Oceanographic Data Centre
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Use constraints:
Data are freely available for use in teaching and research, providing due acknowledgment in any publication produced, following agreement to the terms and conditions of the British Oceanographic Data Centre Data Licence. The licence terms and conditions are available via https://www.bodc.ac.uk/data/documents/nodb/267795/
Other details | ||
Internal code | Internally assigned metadata identifier | 1679 |
Title | The title is used to provide a brief and precise description of the dataset such as 'Date', 'Originating organisation/programme', 'Location' and 'Type of survey'. All acronyms and abbreviations should be reproduced in full. | Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) harbour seal contaminants |
Alternative title | The purpose of alternative title is to record any additional names by which the dataset may be known. | British Oceanographic Data Centre record 1048SMRU_HARBSEAL |
File Identifier | The File Identifier is a code, preferably a GUID, that is globally unique and remains with the same metadata record even if the record is edited or transferred between portals or tools. | 95fb6a17fb4a5c9dbe038de6bbc557fb |
Resource Identifier | This is the code assigned by the data owner. | EDMED5684 |
Resource type | The resource type will likely be a dataset but could also be a series (collection of datasets with a common specification) or a service. | dataset |
Start date | This describes the date the resource starts. This may only be the year if month and day are not known | 2003-01-24 |
End date | This describes the date the resource ends. This may only be the year if month and day are not known | 2003-10-26 |
Spatial resolution | This describes the spatial resolution of the dataset or the spatial limitations of the service. | inapplicable |
Frequency of updates | This describes the frequency with which the resource is modified or updated i.e. a monitoring programme that samples once per year has a frequency that is described as 'annually'. | asNeeded |
Abstract | The abstract provides a clear and brief statement of the content of the resource. | The data set comprises measurements of contaminant concentrations in the blubber of harbour seals. Samples were collected from five populations around the UK coast: the Wash, southeast England; the Tay estuary, southeast Scotland; the Moray Firth, northeast Scotland; Orkney, north Scotland; and Islay and Jura, southwest Scotland. The data were collected between 24 January and 26 October 2003. Seals were captured on land, hauled out with the use of hand-held hoop nets, or caught at sea in tangle nets deployed from boats. After capture, the seals were weighed and sedated, and classified as adult or subadult on the basis of mass and body length measurements. Animals greater than 110 cm standard body length (nose–tail) were considered to be adult and those between 100 and 110 cm as subadult. Animals less than 100 cm were excluded from the study. One dead seal was also included in the analysis. Blubber biopsy samples were collected and stored at -20 °C, then extracted using the Soxhlet method. Lipid content was determined gravimetrically while Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) was used to determine wet weight concentrations of contaminants per lipid proportion of the sample. The work focused on polybrominated diphenyl ether (PDBE) and polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) concentrations in seal blubber. PBDEs are the main components of brominated flame retardant chemicals, and both these and PCBs are thought to increase seal mortality. The five seal populations were chosen following differential mortality during the 2002 phocine distemper epidemic in order to determine whether contaminant concentrations had influenced mortality rates associated with that disease. The data were collected by researchers from the Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) at the University of St Andrews and the University of Lancaster Department of Environmental Science. The data are held at the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC). |
Lineage | Lineage includes the background information, history of the sources of data, data quality statements and methods. | Blubber samples were collected from harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina ) from five populations around the UK coast: the Wash, southeast England; St Andrews Bay, southeast Scotland; the Moray Firth, northeast Scotland; Orkney, north Scotland; and Islay and Jura, southwest Scotland. These populations were selected following differential mortality during the 2002 phocine distemper epidemic in order to determine whether contaminant concentrations had influenced mortality rates associated with that disease. Sampling was undertaken over eight field trips between January and October 2003. Four of these field trips (24 January 2003 and 06, 11 and 25 March 2003) were to the St Andrews Bay site, while the remaining sites were each visited once for a period of several days, as follows: Moray Firth, 22 April 2003 to 24 April 2003; Orkney, 02 June 2003 to 06 June 2003; Islay and Jura, 12 September 2003 to 19 September 2003; and the Wash, 24 October 2003 to 26 October 2003. Sixty animals were sampled: 10 from each population except the Wash, from which 20 samples were taken. The seals were captured on land, hauled out with the use of hand-held hoop nets, or caught at sea in tangle nets deployed from boats. One dead seal was also included in the analysis. After capture, the seals were weighed and sedated, and classified as adult or juvenile on the basis of mass and body length measurements. Animals greater than 110 cm standard body length (nose to tail) were considered to be adult and those between 100 and 110 cm as juvenile. Animals less than 100 cm were excluded from the study. Blubber biopsy samples were collected from each animal and stored at -20 °C, then extracted using the Soxhlet method. Lipid content was determined gravimetrically while Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) was used to determine wet weight concentrations of contaminants per lipid proportion of the sample. Methods and analyses are detailed in Hall and Thomas (2007) and references therein. The data were submitted to BODC in .xls files containing sample metadata and concentrations of individual contaminants in blubber samples taken from each animal. Concentrations of standard combinations of congeners were also included. Data received by BODC were transferred into a template whose form had been agreed between BODC and the data originator. The data were then loaded to the BODC database using established BODC data banking procedures. The site name 'Abertay' provided in the originator's data file was changed to 'St Andrews Bay' to maintain consistency with Hall and Thomas (2007). Each field trip was assigned an identifier by BODC, which links the field trip information to the data.No changes were made to the data during loading. Each contaminant concentration was mapped to an appropriate parameter code with exception of standard combinations of congeners. All values are wet weight concentrations per lipid proportion in the blubber of harbour seals. Note that the number of decimal places for a particular contaminant may vary between individuals. The originator has stated that, given the magnitude and biological significance of the concentrations, it is valid to round all values to one decimal place for the sake of consistency, should data users wish to do so. Instrument(s) used to collect data: gas chromatograph mass spectrometers. |
Additional information | This describes relevant references to the data e.g. reports, articles, websites plus other useful information not captured elsewhere. | Publication year: 2007-01-01 Publication title: Polychlorinated biphenyls, DDT, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, and organic pesticides in United Kingdom harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) - mixed exposures and thyroid homeostasis. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 26 (5). Publication authors: Hall, A.J. & Thomas, G.O. Publication editors: Sea Mammal research Unit (CMRU) |
Related keywords | ||
Keyword | General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Natural Environment Research Council Designated Data Centres |
General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Marine Environmental Data and Information Network | |
General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | unknown | |
General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Concentration of polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs) in biota | |
General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Pesticide concentrations in biota | |
General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Concentration of other organic contaminants in biota | |
General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Human health and safety | |
Geographical coverage | ||
North | The northern-most limit of the data resource in decimal degrees | 60 |
East | The eastern-most limit of the data resource in decimal degrees | 1 |
South | The southern-most limit of the data resource in decimal degrees | 52 |
West | The western-most limit of the data resource in decimal degrees | -7 |
Responsible organisations | ||
Role | The point of contact is person or organisation with responsibility for the creation and maintenance of the metadata for the resource. | pointOfContact |
Organisation name | British Oceanographic Data Centre | |
Individual name | Polly Hadžiabdic | |
Position name | Head of the BODC Requests Team | |
Delivery point | Joseph Proudman Building, 6 Brownlow Street | |
Postal code | L3 5DA | |
City | Liverpool | |
Administrative area | Merseyside | |
Country | United Kingdom | |
URL | http://www.bodc.ac.uk/ | |
Role | The distributor is the person or organisation that distributes the resource. | distributor |
Organisation name | British Oceanographic Data Centre | |
Position name | Director | |
Delivery point | Joseph Proudman Building, 6 Brownlow Street | |
Postal code | L3 5DA | |
City | Liverpool | |
Administrative area | Merseyside | |
Country | United Kingdom | |
URL | http://www.bodc.ac.uk/ | |
Role | The originator is the person or organisation who created, collected or produced the resource. | originator |
Organisation name | Sea Mammal Research Unit | |
Individual name | Unknown | |
Position name | Unknown | |
Phone | +44 (0)1334 463446 | |
Fax | +44 (0)1334 463443 | |
Delivery point | University of St Andrews Gatty Marine Laboratory | |
Postal code | KY16 8LB | |
City | St Andrews | |
Administrative area | Fife | |
Country | United Kingdom | |
URL | http://www.smru.st-andrews.ac.uk/ | |
Role | The originator is the person or organisation who created, collected or produced the resource. | originator |
Organisation name | Lancaster University, Department of Environmental Science | |
Individual name | Unknown | |
Position name | Unknown | |
Phone | +44 (0)1524 510 301 | |
Delivery point | Lancaster Environment Centre | |
Postal code | LA1 4YQ | |
City | Lancaster | |
Administrative area | Lancashire | |
Country | United Kingdom | |
URL | http://www.lec.lancs.ac.uk | |
Role | The custodian is the person or organisation that accepts responsibility for the resource and ensures appropriate care and maintenance. If a dataset has been lodged with a Data Archive Centre for maintenance then this organisation is be entered here. | custodian |
Organisation name | British Oceanographic Data Centre | |
Position name | Director | |
Delivery point | Joseph Proudman Building, 6 Brownlow Street | |
Postal code | L3 5DA | |
City | Liverpool | |
Administrative area | Merseyside | |
Country | United Kingdom | |
URL | http://www.bodc.ac.uk/ | |
Dataset constraints | ||
20 Limitations on Public Access - Access constraints | restricted | |
20 Limitations on Public Access - Other constraints | This states any limitations on access to the data and uses free text. | Data are freely available for use in teaching and research, providing due acknowledgment in any publication produced, following agreement to the terms and conditions of the British Oceanographic Data Centre Data Licence. The licence terms and conditions are available via https://www.bodc.ac.uk/data/documents/nodb/267795/ |
21 Conditions for Access and Use - Use limitation | This states any constraints on use of the data. Multiple conditions can be recorded for different parts of the data resource. If no conditions apply, then `No condtions apply` is recorded. This uses free text. | Usage restrictions are specified in the terms of the licence |
Version info | ||
Date of publication | The publication date of the resource or if previously unpublished the date that the resource was made publicly available via the MEDIN network. | 2017-10-03 |
Date of last revision | The most recent date that the resource was revised. | 2015-09-14 |
Date of creation | The date that the resource was created. | 2011-03-09 |
Harvest date | The date which this record has been (re)harvested from the provider. | 2024-04-14 |
Metadata date | The date when the content of this metadata record was last updated. | 2018-02-06 |
Metadata standard name | The name of the metadata standard used to create this metadata | MEDIN Discovery Metadata Standard |
Metadata standard version | The version of the MEDIN Discovery Metadata Standard used to create the metadata record | Version 2.3.8 |