Feather’s Passer domesticus as a non invasive bio-indicator tool of urban heavy metals (Zn, Pb, Cd) pollution in Rabat-Salé (Morocco).

Abstract

  The purpose of this study is to evaluate the rate of heavy metals (Zinc, Lead and Cadmium) in industrial and urban areas of Rabat using Feather’s  Passer domesticus as a non invasive  bio-indicator method. The collection was made on 50 house sparrows (Passer domesticus) males and females, which were captured in five different sites of Rabat, (ten specimens by site), according to the road traffic and industrial activities, the results obtained indicate the presence of metals in all the analyzed samples. Cd is above the threshold of contamination (0.1 ppm) for all sites, while the Pb far exceeds the threshold (4 ppm) for two study sites. These results suggest that we have two major sources of contamination by heavy metals: Road traffic, and Industrial activities.