The presence of pathogens and heavy metals in urban peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus)
BACKGROUND AND AIM: Wild birds raised in urban environments may be exposed to many negative factors, including biological and chemical toxic elements. The aim of the study was to assess the occurrence of bacteria and parasites in wild birds, based on the example of the peregrine falcon (Falco peregr...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:8404116 2023-05-15T16:09:55+02:00 The presence of pathogens and heavy metals in urban peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) Pyzik, Ewelina Dec, Marta Stępień–Pyśniak, Dagmara Marek, Agnieszka Piedra, Jose Louis Valverde Chałabis-Mazurek, Agnieszka Szczepaniak, Klaudiusz Urban-Chmiel, Renata 2021-07 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8404116/ https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2021.1741-1751 en eng Veterinary World http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8404116/ http://dx.doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2021.1741-1751 Copyright: © Pyzik, et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) ) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. CC0 PDM CC-BY Vet World Research Article Text 2021 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2021.1741-1751 2021-09-05T01:06:33Z BACKGROUND AND AIM: Wild birds raised in urban environments may be exposed to many negative factors, including biological and chemical toxic elements. The aim of the study was to assess the occurrence of bacteria and parasites in wild birds, based on the example of the peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) as a potential indicator of bacterial drug resistance genes. Toxicological contamination was also analyzed to determine the impact of urbanized areas on this predatory species, in terms of its health, welfare, and survival in urban environments. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The samples consisted of down feathers and fresh feces obtained from seven falcon chicks (during obligatory veterinary examination) reared in two nests located in the Lublin region (Lublin and Puławy). Bacteria and parasites were isolated directly from feces by classical microbiological methods, polymerase chain reaction, and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MS). The down feathers and feces of birds were used for toxicological testing by plasma inductively coupled plasma MS to assess the concentrations of selected heavy metals (cadmium [Cd], lead [Pb], arsenic [As], zinc [Zn], and copper [Cu]). RESULTS: The study revealed the presence of a diverse microbiome in the falcon chicks, among which Escherichia coli, Enterococcus spp., and Staphylococcus spp. bacteria and parasites of the genus Caryospora were dominant. The presence of drug resistance genes was also confirmed among the pathogens. The toxicological analysis found high concentrations of toxic heavy metals, including Cd, Pb, As, and Zn, in the downy feathers and feces of peregrine chicks. CONCLUSION: Predatory free-living birds living in urban environments not only can be infected with various pathogens but may also show contamination with heavy metals, which could influence their natural resistance, condition, and welfare. Text Falco peregrinus peregrine falcon PubMed Central (PMC) Veterinary World 1741 1751 |
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Research Article Pyzik, Ewelina Dec, Marta Stępień–Pyśniak, Dagmara Marek, Agnieszka Piedra, Jose Louis Valverde Chałabis-Mazurek, Agnieszka Szczepaniak, Klaudiusz Urban-Chmiel, Renata The presence of pathogens and heavy metals in urban peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) |
topic_facet |
Research Article |
description |
BACKGROUND AND AIM: Wild birds raised in urban environments may be exposed to many negative factors, including biological and chemical toxic elements. The aim of the study was to assess the occurrence of bacteria and parasites in wild birds, based on the example of the peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) as a potential indicator of bacterial drug resistance genes. Toxicological contamination was also analyzed to determine the impact of urbanized areas on this predatory species, in terms of its health, welfare, and survival in urban environments. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The samples consisted of down feathers and fresh feces obtained from seven falcon chicks (during obligatory veterinary examination) reared in two nests located in the Lublin region (Lublin and Puławy). Bacteria and parasites were isolated directly from feces by classical microbiological methods, polymerase chain reaction, and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MS). The down feathers and feces of birds were used for toxicological testing by plasma inductively coupled plasma MS to assess the concentrations of selected heavy metals (cadmium [Cd], lead [Pb], arsenic [As], zinc [Zn], and copper [Cu]). RESULTS: The study revealed the presence of a diverse microbiome in the falcon chicks, among which Escherichia coli, Enterococcus spp., and Staphylococcus spp. bacteria and parasites of the genus Caryospora were dominant. The presence of drug resistance genes was also confirmed among the pathogens. The toxicological analysis found high concentrations of toxic heavy metals, including Cd, Pb, As, and Zn, in the downy feathers and feces of peregrine chicks. CONCLUSION: Predatory free-living birds living in urban environments not only can be infected with various pathogens but may also show contamination with heavy metals, which could influence their natural resistance, condition, and welfare. |
format |
Text |
author |
Pyzik, Ewelina Dec, Marta Stępień–Pyśniak, Dagmara Marek, Agnieszka Piedra, Jose Louis Valverde Chałabis-Mazurek, Agnieszka Szczepaniak, Klaudiusz Urban-Chmiel, Renata |
author_facet |
Pyzik, Ewelina Dec, Marta Stępień–Pyśniak, Dagmara Marek, Agnieszka Piedra, Jose Louis Valverde Chałabis-Mazurek, Agnieszka Szczepaniak, Klaudiusz Urban-Chmiel, Renata |
author_sort |
Pyzik, Ewelina |
title |
The presence of pathogens and heavy metals in urban peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) |
title_short |
The presence of pathogens and heavy metals in urban peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) |
title_full |
The presence of pathogens and heavy metals in urban peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) |
title_fullStr |
The presence of pathogens and heavy metals in urban peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) |
title_full_unstemmed |
The presence of pathogens and heavy metals in urban peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) |
title_sort |
presence of pathogens and heavy metals in urban peregrine falcons (falco peregrinus) |
publisher |
Veterinary World |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8404116/ https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2021.1741-1751 |
genre |
Falco peregrinus peregrine falcon |
genre_facet |
Falco peregrinus peregrine falcon |
op_source |
Vet World |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8404116/ http://dx.doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2021.1741-1751 |
op_rights |
Copyright: © Pyzik, et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) ) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. |
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CC0 PDM CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2021.1741-1751 |
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Veterinary World |
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1741 |
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