title: Concentrations of Metals in Feathers of Magpie (Pica pica) from Aran-O-Bidgol City in Central Iran.
abstract: The present study aims to measure Zn, Cu, Pb and Cd concentrations in feathers of Magpies in urban areas to investigate the possibility of using Magpies to monitor metal contamination in urban areas. A total of 15 bird samples were collected in October 2013 from Aran-O-Bidgol City, in Central Iran and the concentration of metals were measured using a PerkinElmer ICP-OES. The average concentrations of Zn, Cu, Pb and Cd in the feathers were 167.16, 26.74, 9.29 and 1.583 µg/g dw, respectively. There were no significant differences in metal concentrations between various genders, ages and sites. However, the highest and lowest concentrations of non-essential elements were observed in the adult males and adult females, respectively. Significant correlations were observed between the concentrations of Cu and Zn as well as Pb and Cd. Moreover, wing length had the highest correlation with metals concentrations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environment, Faculty of Natural Resources and Earth Sciences, University of Kashan, Kashan, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zarrintab
authors.affiliation: Department of Environment, Faculty of Natural Resources and Earth Sciences, University of Kashan, Kashan, Iran.
authors.forename: Rouhollah
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mirzaei
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health, Faculty of Health, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran. mostafai_gr@kaums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Gholamreza
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mostafaei
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health, Faculty of Health, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.
authors.forename: Rouhollah
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dehghani
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health, Trauma Research Center, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Akbari
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002947:Cities; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D005241:Feathers / Q000737:chemistry*; D005260:Female; D007492:Iran; D008297:Male; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis*; D046109:Passeriformes; D012737:Sex Factors; D014507:Urbanization
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D019216:Metals, Heavy
keywords: Biomonitoring; Heavy metals; Iran; Magpie; Pica pica