A recent study by the Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED) shows that contaminant levels in pink-footed geese are three times higher than in barnacle geese. This may be caused by a different pollutant exposure in their wintering areas in continental Europe and Scotland, respectively.

In his master thesis 'Screening of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in migrating waterfowl; barnacle goose Branta leucopsis and pink-footed goose Anser brachyrhynchus' Eirik Hovland Steindal, MSc student of IBED analysed POPs in eggs collected from goose nests in Svalbard in 2006. Study species were the pink-footed goose, wintering in Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgia and the barnacle goose that winters in Scotland.

The exposure to POPs in terrestrial herbivores is in general lower than in predators or marine species. However, Arctic species that migrate to temperate areas in winter experience often higher pollution levels in the wintering areas than in the breeding areas.

It can be assumed that the higher the nutrient uptake by the geese in the wintering areas prior to migration is, i.e. the more egg production is relying on stored resources, the higher will be the contanimant level in their eggs. Steindal related the amount of nutrients derived at winter habitats and POP concentrations in eggs of pink-footed geese and could support this assumption.

The MSc research of Eirik Hovland Steindal is part of a collaboration between IBED, The Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI) and The Laboratory of Environmental Toxicology at the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science.