Environmental specimen banking - Aspects of metal determination and distribution.

Analytical investigations of metals within the present program of the German Environmental Specimen Bank (ESB) are briefly introduced. The focus is directed to challenges and opportunities which are provided by an ESB for analytical chemistry. Several aspects of instrumental approaches for environmental analysis, bioindication, speciation, data evaluation and quality assurance are discussed. Illustrative examples of ESB results are presented concerning metal concentrations in biological material, comparison of ecosystems and long-term tendencies.