{"accessRestrictions":"Provided that specific conditions are met, specimens and/or data may be provided to external parties.","archiveContacts":[{"familyName":"Rüdel","givenName":"Heinz","organisationName":"German Environmental Specimen Bank","role":"pointOfContact","email":"heinz.ruedel@ime.fraunhofer.de","address":{"deliveryPoint":"Fraunhofer Institute Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME, Division Applied Ecology, Auf dem Aberg 1, 57392 Schmallenberg","country":"Germany"},"fullName":"Rüdel, H.","pointOfContact":"German Environmental Specimen Bank"}],"availability":"Four profiles describe the content of investigations for ecosystems (agrarian, forestry, marine, terrestrial and riverine) sampling areas (may be selected from a map or list), specimen types (limnetic, marine. terrestrial and human) and a long list of analytical parameters.","boundingBoxes":[{"westBoundLongitude":5.801,"eastBoundLongitude":17.358,"southBoundLatitude":47.249,"northBoundLatitude":54.927,"bounds":"{\"type\": \"Feature\",      \"properties\": {},      \"geometry\": {        \"type\": \"Polygon\",        \"coordinates\": [[[5.801, 47.249], [5.801, 54.927], [17.358, 54.927], [17.358, 47.249], [5.801, 47.249]]]      }}","coordinates":"[[[5.801, 47.249], [5.801, 54.927], [17.358, 54.927], [17.358, 47.249], [5.801, 47.249]]]"}],"description":" (The Umwelt probenbank des Bundes or Federal Environmental Specimen Bank (Germany). The German Environmental Specimen Bank (ESB) is an archive for samples that can be used to document and assess the quality of the environment in which we live. These samples are representative for a particular area, and are collected regularly, to be able to monitor changes of pollution over the course of time.\n\nFurthermore, the specimens must be preserved in such a way that they can still be analysed many years after they were collected - either because new techniques have become available or because a new interest has arisen in substances that were not considered important in the past. The specimens must therefore be carefully prepared and stored under conditions that rule out any long-term alteration.\n\nSpecimens from typical ecosystems all over Germany, including coastal regions, urban settlements and mountainous terrain, are collected at regular intervals and stored in the German Environmental Specimen Bank. As well as specimens representing various levels of the food chain such as algae, mussels, fish, herring gulls, human specimens (blood and urine) are collected from student volunteers at four different sites.\n\nAll collected specimens are tested for the presence of a wide variety of chemical substances (including heavy metals) before being deep-frozen and consigned to storage. Low-temperature storage ensures that the specimens remain virtually unaltered, and can be taken out for analysis even many years later - for use in what is known as retrospective monitoring.\n\nThe ESB’s routine analysis programme not only involves measuring the concentration of specific substances but also evaluating the fitness of the sampled organisms on the basis of biometric factors, e.g. age, size, weight, state of health.\n\nThe Environmental Specimen Bank serves as a vital instrument of Germany’s environmental policy, because it not only provides documented evidence of the current state of the environment but also keeps past specimens available for verifying the effectiveness of policy measures and for investigating unanticipated later questions.","id":"a6e478a7-50ee-4d77-8b7f-ed3423b613b0","lineage":"To fulfil the precautionary principle, a scientific infrastructure, a broad database to describe and evaluate the current state of the environment and long term monitoring of the physical and chemical processes in the environment in time and space are neccessary. The German Environmental Specimen Bank collects and stores human samples from specific cities in combination with ecologicaly representative environmental samples. The samples are then analyzed on health and environmentally relevant substances. This way the success of environmental policies can be monitored for example concerning restrictions of chemicals or voluntary waiving of use by industry. The current version of the Concept of the German Environmental Specimen Bank -2014 (PDF, 700 KB, in German) has been in force since December 2014. ","metadataContacts":[{"organisationName":"UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology","role":"pointOfContact","email":"jgar@ceh.ac.uk","pointOfContact":"UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology"}],"metadataDate":"2026-06-02T08:30:50","onlineResources":[{"url":"https://www.umweltprobenbank.de/en/documents/investigations","name":"Data search","function":"website","type":"OTHER"},{"url":"https://www.umweltprobenbank.de/en/documents/publications?category=Ver%C3%B6ffentlichung%3A+Standardarbeitsanweisung&sort=&year=","name":"Standard operating procedures","function":"website","type":"OTHER"}],"resourceIdentifiers":[{"code":"https://catalogue.ceh.ac.uk/id/a6e478a7-50ee-4d77-8b7f-ed3423b613b0"}],"storage":"Specimens are long-term stored above liquid nitrogen at temperatures below -150°C. The stock of archived specimens is updated annually.","temporalExtent":{"begin":"1970-01-01"},"title":"German Environmental Specimen Bank","type":"sampleArchive","uri":"https://catalogue.ceh.ac.uk/id/a6e478a7-50ee-4d77-8b7f-ed3423b613b0","website":"https://www.umweltprobenbank.de/en"}