{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T02:21:45Z","timestamp":1760149305007,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":54,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"15","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,31]],"date-time":"2023-07-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1690761600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Animals"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Biomonitoring is the qualitative observation and the measurement of biosphere parameters aimed at modelling the environment, evaluating its quality, and studying the effects of alterations on different ecological levels. In this work, trace metal concentrations were assessed using non-destructive biomonitoring tools as blood and feathers of the allochthonous aquatic bird Cairina moschata, collected within two areas of the Palermo metropolitan area, Sicily, differently exposed to air pollution: Parco D\u2019Orleans, in a central urban location, and Monreale, southwest of the city centre. Higher concentrations in both blood and feathers collected in Parco D\u2019 Orleans were found for lead, tin and selenium, but the same was not observed for other metals. The concentrations were not above physiological tolerance in any case. The comparison between blood and feathers allowed to realize that the latter are more useful for biomonitoring analyses, as they are indicative of both external contamination and bioaccumulation. Treatment with nitric acid highlighted that the feathers collected in Parco D\u2019 Orleans had higher metal bioaccumulation than the ones collected in Monreale; however, the treatment needs standardization. The present study confirms that feathers and blood from C. moschata are a convenient and non-destructive sampling tool for metal contamination analysis.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ani13152474","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,31]],"date-time":"2023-07-31T10:00:15Z","timestamp":1690797615000},"page":"2474","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Biological Matrices from Cairina moschata as Non-Destructive Biomonitoring Tools to Study Environmental Quality of Urban and Extra-Urban Areas: A Case Study of Palermo (Sicily, Italy)"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7199-0804","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Matteo Riccardo","family":"Di Nicola","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit of Dermatology and Cosmetology, IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital, Via Olgettina 60, 20132 Milan, Italy"},{"name":"Asociaci\u00f3n Herpetol\u00f3gica Espa\u00f1ola, Apartado de Correos 191, 28911 Legan\u00e9s, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Christian","family":"Novello","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Dipartimento di Scienze Farmacologiche e Biomolecolari, University of Milan, Via Balzaretti 9, 20133 Milan, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2159-5245","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mario","family":"Lo Valvo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche, Chimiche e Farmaceutiche, University of Palermo, Via Archirafi, 18, 90123 Palermo, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8537-0016","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gianluigi Maria","family":"Lo Dico","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Sicilia \u201cA. Mirri\u201d, Via Gino Marinuzzi 3, 90129 Palermo, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Vittoria Giulia","family":"Bianchi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit of Dermatology and Cosmetology, IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital, Via Olgettina 60, 20132 Milan, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Santo Raffaele","family":"Mercuri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit of Dermatology and Cosmetology, IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital, Via Olgettina 60, 20132 Milan, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Marcella","family":"Giornetti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche, Chimiche e Farmaceutiche, University of Palermo, Via Archirafi, 18, 90123 Palermo, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"91","article-title":"The Assessment of Environmental and Occupational Exposure to Hazardous Substances by Biomonitoring","volume":"106","author":"Budnik","year":"2009","journal-title":"Dtsch. \u00c4rztebl. 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