The screening method for use of wild pheasant feathers in the monitoring of environmental pollution with heavy metals

A critical review on the ecotoxicity of heavy metal on multispecies in global context: A bibliometric analysis

Heavy metals (HMs) have become a significant concern in the current era, with deleterious effects on diverse living organisms when exposed beyond threshold concentrations. Both nature and human beings have been constantly casting out HMs into environmental matrices through various activities. Innumerable cases of threatened diseases such as cancer, respiratory ailments, reproductive defects, skin diseases, and several others have been a cause of significant concern for humans as the number of instances has been increasing with each decade. HMs migrates via several pathways to infiltrate biological organisms and amass within them. Even though numerous treatment approaches are available for remediating HM pollution, however, they are expensive, along with other setbacks. Due to such constraints, combating HM contamination requires environmentally conscious strategies like bioremediation, which employs an array of biological systems to remove HMs from the environment. Nonetheless, to address the current global HM pollution situation, it is critical to comprehend not only how these hazardous HMs cause toxicity in various living organisms but also the knowledge gaps that currently exist concerning the subject of HM ecotoxicity. In the present investigation, data was extracted from Google Scholar using software program called Harzing's Publish or Perish. The collected information has been subsequently displayed as a network file using the VOSViewer software tool. Thus, the current review presents a significant insight with the inclusion of a readily accessible bibliometric analysis to comprehend the present status of HMs research, global research trends, existing knowledge discrepancies, and research challenges. Further, it also provides an in-depth review of HMs ecotoxicity, with a focus on arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), and lead (Pb). Thus, as indicated by the bibliometric study, the present review will assist future investigators studying HMs ecotoxicity by providing baseline data concerning a wide range of living organisms and by addressing research gaps.

Analysis of Zinc and Copper Content in Selected Tissues and Organs of Wild Mallard Ducks (Anas platyrhynchos L.) in Poland

The research material included selected muscles and liver of mallard ducks obtained in two research areas. A total of 28 mallards were obtained for the study-six males and six females from the Siedlce hunting district and eight males and eight females from the Leszno hunting district. Zinc and copper concentrations were determined by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP OES). It was concluded from the study that the Leszno hunting district is more polluted than the Siedlce hunting district. Among the examined tissues of mallard ducks from both hunting districts, the highest content of zinc and copper was found in the liver. In this organ, birds shot in the Leszno hunting district were characterized by a significantly higher content of these elements compared to birds shot in the Siedlce hunting area. The significantly higher average zinc and copper concentrations in the liver of mallards harvested in this hunting district may have been influenced by fertilization of crop fields in this area with fertilizers containing these elements and by extraction of ore containing zinc and copper minerals in the Legnica-Głogów Copper District. This is an important problem with regard to the safety of consumers of game meat. It was shown that the tissues of male mallards were characterized by higher average levels of zinc and copper than those of females, but the differences were statistically significant only in the case of the average copper content in the leg muscles.