An Ecotoxicological Study of House Crow in Southern Punjab, Pakistan

Abstract

Twenty House Crow (Corvus splendens) were collected from five districts of Punjab Pakistan such as Rajanpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Muzaffar Garh, Khanewal and Vehari. After analyzing the samples of birds, it was found that the mean concentrations of metals such as copper, cadmium and zinc were higher in liver samples as compared to kidney samples. Non-significant value of zinc was observed in liver samples (P = 0.175) while in kidney it's significant is (P = 0.040). There was no prominent difference was observed in copper concentration in liver (0.244) and kidney samples (0.236). Cadmium concentration found in liver is (0.162) and in kidney samples (0.057). There was no significant difference was seen in mean values of metals in kidney and liver samples in all study areas. The higher industrial rate in urban areas of Pakistan lead to heavy metal toxicity which is a major problem that is associated with severe health issues. The study was designed to find out the level of certain heavy metals including zinc, copper and cadmium in samples of an urban bird species that is House Crow (Corvus splendens). The higher values of these metals and their effects found in birds will help the humans.