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:
Evaluate the House Sparrow for use as a bio-indicator species of metal contamination in terrestrial environments,
Compare differences in metal accumulation levels between internal and external tissues, and
Justify the use of feather tissue as a non-lethal alternative to muscle for use in metal pollution analysis.
It was hypothesised that:
House Sparrows accumulate metals from their environment,
Feathers show similar trends in metal accumulation compared with muscle tissue, and
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