Potential of barn swallow feces as a non-destructive biomonitoring tool for anthropogenic pollutants: Site and chemical specificities and an evaluation of soil contaminants

Figures & data

Figure 1. Map of the four sampling sites in the midlands of Japan

Table 1. Mean concentrations ± standard deviation (μg/g) of individual trace elements in surface soils and the feces of barn swallows throughout the sampling sites^a.

	Soil					Feces
	Urban (10)	Suburban (12)	Park (25)	Local (18)		Urban (3)	Suburban (6)	Park (9)	Local (8)
V	98 ± 28	110 ± 21	75 ± 29	98 ± 34		36 ± 22	18 ± 20	14 ± 10	24 ± 23
Cr	30 ± 20	26 ± 12	25 ± 14	47 ± 25		15 ± 6.0	9.0 ± 13	23 ± 14	15 ± 20
Mn	560 ± 170	770 ± 290	580 ± 260	620 ± 270		270 ± 82	470 ± 320	290 ± 78	400 ± 130
Co	69 ± 11	83 ± 17	58 ± 15	65 ± 18		15 ± 11	16 ± 22	10 ± 5.5	12 ± 15
Ni	19 ± 6.3	20 ± 6.6	18 ± 6.5	19 ± 7.5		9.3 ± 6.9	7.4 ± 8.6	6.0 ± 7.0	4.7 ± 7.6
Cu	38 ± 19	45 ± 15	37 ± 20	27 ± 15		94 ± 11	120 ± 18	100 ± 22	85 ± 15
Zn	210 ± 152	150 ± 58	160 ± 110	130 ± 40		420 ± 51	610 ± 260	690 ± 270	440 ± 66
As	3.7 ± 2.1	8.1 ± 3.0	6.4 ± 4.2	4.3 ± 4.0		2.9 ± 2.7	2.9 ± 4.1	4.8 ± 3.8	1.1 ± 2.9
Cd	nd^b	0.2 ± 0.7	0.1 ± 0.3	0.1 ± 0.4		nd^b	1.4 ± 1.9	0.9 ± 2.6	0.5 ± 1.2
Hg	2.8 ± 4.0	1.7 ± 5.8	1.3 ± 2.4	2.7 ± 3.3		5.1 ± 3.7	1.8 ± 2.6	2.6 ± 3.2	0.9 ± 2.4
Pb	48 ± 19	40 ± 11	64 ± 91	49 ± 14		18 ± 3.4	20 ± 8.2	62 ± 60	19 ± 12

^aThe number of samples in each location is noted in brackets

^bnot detection

Figure 2. The composition of trace elements in (a) surface soils and (b) barn swallow feces at each site

Figure 3. The concentration of (a, b) total PAHs and (c, d) total ClPAHs in (a, c) surface soils and (b, d) barn swallow feces at each site

Figure 4. The composition of aromatic rings for PAHs in (a) surface soils and (b) barn swallow feces at each site

Figure 5. Relationships shown by the PLS model between predicted and measured concentrations of (a) trace elements, (b) individual PAHs, and (c) individual ClPAHs in surface soils