A schematic sampling protocol for contaminant monitoring in raptors

Abstract

Birds of prey, owls and falcons are widely used as sentinel species in raptor biomonitoring programmes. A major current challenge is to facilitate large-scale biomonitoring by coordinating contaminant monitoring activities and by building capacity across countries. This requires sharing, dissemination and adoption of best practices addressed by the Networking Programme Research and Monitoring for and with Raptors in Europe (EURAPMON) and now being advanced by the ongoing international COST Action European Raptor Biomonitoring Facility. The present perspective introduces a schematic sampling protocol for contaminant monitoring in raptors. We provide guidance on sample collection with a view to increasing sampling capacity across countries, ensuring appropriate quality of samples and facilitating harmonization of procedures to maximize the reliability, comparability and interoperability of data. The here presented protocol can be used by professionals and volunteers as a standard guide to ensure harmonised sampling methods for contaminant monitoring in raptors. Keywords Best practices Á Birds of prey Á Falcons Á Large-scale biomonitoring Á Owls Á Pan-European network Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (

Validation of Multi-Residue Method for Quantification of Antibiotics and NSAIDs in Avian Scavengers by Using Small Amounts of Plasma in HPLC-MS-TOF

“…According to the "Guidance Document on Analytical Quality Control and Method Validation Procedures for Pesticide Residues Analysis in Food and Feed from the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety of the European Commission" [39], we achieved the validation of a miniaturized multiresidue method for quantifying antibiotics and NSAIDs of veterinary use using a very small sample volume. As mentioned above, sample amount is generally limited in studies of free-ranging wildlife, both by the weight of the individual sampled [29,30] and the need for other contaminant exposure assessment [31,32]. However, most analytical methods for quantifying veterinary drugs in complex matrices have been developed in the field of food safety [25], where sample amount of milk, meat or eggs is not a limiting factor, and often more than 2 g or 2 mL of sample are used [40].…”

“…Ethical guidelines from the Spanish Royal Decree 1205/2005 on the protection of animals for experimentation and scientific research were followed, with permits from the Spanish Bird Ringing Centre (Permit Number: 530115) and the regional government of Castilla y Léon (Expedient Numbers: EP/CyL/282/2013-298/2016). Manipulation of vulture samples was performed following the best practice sampling and contaminant monitoring protocol for raptors developed by the ERBFacility COST-Action ( [32], see link to Video 1). Blood samples were kept in tubes with heparin and transported under refrigeration conditions in polystyrene isothermal boxes to the laboratory.…”

“…Blood samples were kept in tubes with heparin and transported under refrigeration conditions in polystyrene isothermal boxes to the laboratory. Every sample was centrifuged (3000× g for 10 min) in order to obtain plasma ( [32], see link to Video 2) that was kept at −80 • C until the moment of its analysis.…”

“…In addition, biomonitoring studies often include the assessment of exposure to other environmental contaminants such as metals, agrochemicals or flame retardants in the same individuals [31]. In that case, at least 2.5 mL of blood will not be available for pharmaceutical analyses, as it is generally the minimum volume used for analysis of other contaminants ( [32], see Electronic Supplementary Materials).…”

Blood Toxic Elements and Effects on Plasma Vitamins and Carotenoids in Two Wild Bird Species: Turdus merula and Columba livia

“…During handling and sampling for both species, best practice guidance was followed according to Espín et al [ 45 ]. Individuals were examined prior to blood sampling, and all were considered clinically healthy.…”