Monitoring of toxic metals(loids) in fifteen raptor bird species of Iran

The current study was conducted to identify the contamination of 10 toxic metals(loids) (mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), selenium (Se), nickel (Ni), arsenic (As) and aluminium (Al)) in the feathers of 15 raptor bird species, which tries to analyze the adverse effects, taxonomic affiliation, spatial distribution, habitat type, and effect of age. During 2020–2022, 476 feathers of 115 birds were collected and the primary feathers of each bird were sampled and an Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used to analyze the toxic metals(loids). It was found that there is a statistically significant difference between the concentration of metals(loids) and the studied birds (except for As) ( p