Determining heavy metal and developing model for concentration in the feathers of house sparrow (Ni, Pb,Cd) in Tehran

 Heavy metals cause many problems in living organisms. Using living organism as a bio indicator is a useful way to show environment conditions. In these paper bioaccumulation of heavy metals in house sparrow feather were studied. The house sparrow is distributed in many parts of the world. The house sparrow lives in urban and rural areas. Due to living in residential areas, it is affected by man-made pollutants. The main source of air pollution in Tehran is fuel combustion in car engines. It seems that air pollution somehow accumulates in the body of urban birds. The house sparrow has been selected as a biological indicator in Tehran. Sample point were chosen in north, south, west and east of Tehran. In each area 10 samples were chosen. Amount of heavy metals in feathers measured by ICP. Zoning was done by using GIS According to result amount of nickel is higher than cadmium and lead. The accumulation of heavy metals in the feather tissue depends on the where the bird lives. The highest amount of lead, nickel and cadmium was 2.89, 451 and 25.9 ppb. The lowest amount of lead, nickel and cadmium was 0.88, 11.59 and 0.54 ppb. Result indicates that house sparrow could be used as a bio indicator of heavy metals in urban areas. The curve fitting application in MATLAB is used and shows the relation between heavy metal concentration in soil and concentration in feathers to predict amount of muscle concentration.