Assessment of Nickel Levels in Feathers of Two Bird Species from Southern Iran

The purpose of the present study was to investigate levels of nickel in feathers of the Western Reef Heron Egretta gularis (N=15) and Siberian Gull Larus heuglini (N=15). Bird samples were collected from November to December 2010 in Hara Biosphere Reserve. Assaying nickel by using Shimadzu AA 680 flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer, the results were given as micrograms per gram of dry weight. The results of the current study showed that the amount of nickel in feathers of the Siberian Gull (a migratory species) was higher than in feathers of the Western Reef Heron (a resident species). The concentration of nickel was found to follow the order of female/juvenile> female/adult> male/adult in Western Reef Heron and male/adult> female/juvenile> female/adult> male/juvenile in Siberian Gull. The results also indicated that the nickel concentration level in female Western Reef Herons was higher than in males while in Siberian Gull the reverse was the case.