Metal accumulation in the House Sparrow

Metal accumulation in House Sparrow Passer domesticus from Thohoyandou, Limpopo Province, South Africa

Key finding

Metal pollution within the Thohoyandou region is severe. Plume feathers are a viable, non-lethal alternative tissue for the determination of metal pollution in birds and terrestrial environments.

Overview

The Thohoyandou district, in the north-eastern parts of South Africa, and its surrounds remain relatively unaffected by mining activities and other industrial processes. For this reason, the Thohoyandou district may be a valuable reference site for natural background metal levels as studies examining the effects of metal contamination on terrestrial environments are lacking. Thus, this study aimed to:

1. Evaluate the House Sparrow for use as a bio-indicator species of metal contamination in terrestrial environments,

2. Compare differences in metal accumulation levels between internal and external tissues, and

3. Justify the use of feather tissue as a non-lethal alternative to muscle for use in metal pollution analysis.

It was hypothesised that:

1. House Sparrows accumulate metals from their environment,

2. Feathers show similar trends in metal accumulation compared with muscle tissue, and

3. House Sparrows are a suitable bio-indicator organism for terrestrial biomonitoring of metal contamination in South Africa.

Keywords

bioaccumulation | bio-indicator | flight feathers | ICP-OES | muscle tissue | plume feathers | South Africa

#bioaccumulation #bioindicator #flightfeathers #ICPOES #muscle #plumefeathers #southafrica #ecotoxicology #metal #housesparrow #passerdomesticus #pollution #environment #science #thohoyandou #baseline #feathers #nonlethal #anthropogenic

See associated publications:

Baker, N.J., Dahms, S., Gerber, R., Maina, J. & Greenfield, R. 2017. Metal accumulation in House Sparrows (Passer domesticus) from Thohoyandou, Limpopo Province, South Africa. African Zoology, 52, 43−53. https://doi.org/10.1080/15627020.2017.1293491

Steyn, L., Bouwman, H. & Maina, J.N. 2018. Associations between DDT and egg parameters of the House Sparrow Passer domesticus from the Thohoyandou area of South Africa. Chemosphere, 198, 249-256. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2018.01.125

Steyn, L., Hoffman, J., Bouwman, H., Maina, A.W. & Maina, J.N. 2018. Bone density and asymmetry are not related to DDT in House Sparrows: Insights from micro-focus X-ray computed tomography. Chemosphere, 212, 734-743. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2018.08.119