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Metal concentrations in homing pigeon lung tissue as a biomonitor of atmospheric pollution

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Abstract

Atmospheric pollution in urban areas is a major worldwide concern with potential adverse impacts on wildlife and humans. Biomonitoring can provide direct evidence of the bioavailability and bioaccumulation of toxic metals in the environment that is not available with mechanical air monitoring. The current study continues our evaluation of the usefulness of homing pigeon lung tissue as a biomonitor of atmospheric pollution. Homing pigeons (1–2, 5–6, and 9–10+ year old (yo)) collected from Guangzhou during 2015 were necropsied and concentrations of cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), and mercury (Hg) were measured in lung tissue. Lung Cd and Pb concentrations were significantly greater in 9–10+-year-old pigeons compared with those in other age groups, indicating their bioavailability and bioaccumulation. Lung Pb and Cd concentrations measured in 5-yo pigeons collected from Guangzhou during 2015 were significantly lower than concentrations reported in 5-yo homing pigeons collected from Guangzhou during 2011 and correlated with concentrations measured using mechanical air monitoring. In addition to temporal differences, spatial differences in concentrations of Cd, Pb, and Hg reported in ambient air samples and in pigeon lung tissues collected from Beijing and Guangzhou are discussed.

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Acknowledgements

This research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41571199), the Science and Technology Innovative Programs Foundation of Higher Education of Heilongjiang Province, China (No. 2010td10), and Youth Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41701574, No. 41501547). We would like to thank the students and staff at the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry for their assistance in pigeon collection and necropsy. We also thank the pigeon hobbyist in Guangzhou for this assistance and for providing the pigeons used in our research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Monitoring of Geographic Environment, Harbin Normal University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, 150025, PR China

    Jia Cui & Shuying Zang

  2. Cooperative Wildlife Research Laboratory, Southern Illinois University (Emeritus), Carbondale, IL, 62901, USA

    Richard S. Halbrook

  3. College of Geographical Science, Harbin Normal University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, 150025, PR China

    Shuang Han & Xinyu Li

Authors
  1. Jia Cui
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  2. Richard S. Halbrook
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  3. Shuying Zang
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  4. Shuang Han
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  5. Xinyu Li
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Correspondence to Shuying Zang.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed. This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors.

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Cui, J., Halbrook, R.S., Zang, S. et al. Metal concentrations in homing pigeon lung tissue as a biomonitor of atmospheric pollution. Ecotoxicology 27, 169–174 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-017-1882-4

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