Cadmium concentrations and their implications in Mallard and Coot from fish pond areas Lukasz J. Binkowski a,⇑ , Katarzyna Sawicka-Kapusta b a Institute of Biology, Pedagogical University of Cracow, Podbrzezie 3, 31-054 Cracow, Poland b Institute of Environmental Sciences, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7, 30-387 Cracow, Poland highlights  Cd concentrations in duck kidneys are comparable to those from the past five years.  Concentrations differed between the studied areas and species.  Age influenced concentrations only in Mallards.  No correlation between internal organ concentrations and blood occurred.  No relationship between internal concentrations, feather and excrements was noted. article info Article history: Received 11 June 2014 Received in revised form 15 July 2014 Accepted 19 July 2014 Handling Editor: Caroline Gaus Keywords: Xenobiotics Cadmium Metals Waterfowl Ecotoxicology Biomonitoring abstract During the studies in 2003, high concentrations of cadmium (Cd) were noted among Mallards and Coots in Poland. Further research, five years later, showed the histopathological alterations in birds from the same area which were probably stimulated by Cd. This paper presents the analysis of Cd in ten different materials collected from these species (n = 180) in years 2006–2009 in two areas, including southern – Zator and western Poland – Milicz. Similarly high concentrations to those from 2003 were noted only in kidneys of Mallards from the Zator area (up to 56.49 lgg 1 d.w.). Other comparable materials accumulated significantly lower concentration of Cd. Generally, lower concentrations occurred in birds from Milicz. Concentrations varied also between species and age groups. They correlated between liver and kidneys, brain and muscle and brain and spleen. Potential in vivo bioindicators (blood, feathers and excrements) did not seem to be useful as biomarkers in both areas. Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Cadmium is a strong metallic nephrotoxin treated as a xenobi- otic with a high anthropogenic enrichment factor equal to 89% (Walker et al., 2006). Due to its common occurrence, cadmium can be found in environmental samples as well as in living organisms by which it can be intaken mainly through respiratory and digestive systems (Boisset et al., 1978; Shore and Rattner, 2001; Nordberg et al., 2007). In organisms, cadmium causes deleterious effects including carcinogenesis and nephrotoxicity. Additionally, it accumulates during the whole life, with minimal excretion, and can partially cross the placenta barrier (Dencker, 1975; Sonawane et al., 1975; Nordberg et al., 2007; Ekine and Agu, 2008). Concentrations in the chosen species and tissues can be used in biomonitoring as an indication of the practical exposure and the quality of the environment (Vahter et al., 1991; Nordberg et al., 2007). Waterfowl such as ducks, swans and Coots commonly inhabit areas rich in deposits and metals so they are easily and chronically exposed (Binkowski and Meissner, 2013). Ecotoxicologists study these species mainly in the aspect of lead poisoning from ammuni- tion sources (Pain, 1990; Mateo et al., 1998; Newth et al., 2012; Binkowski and Sawicka-Kapusta, 2014) or mercury concentrations (Goutner and Furness, 1997; Aazami et al., 2012; Kalisin ´ ska et al., 2012). Cadmium research studies are not so numerous, especially in Poland in Central-Eastern Europe (Binkowski et al., 2013b; Kalisin ´ ska et al., 2007, 2004; Szymczyk and Zalewski, 2003). One of these, concerning concentrations in Mallards and Coots shot in http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2014.07.059 0045-6535/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +48 126626724; fax: +48 126626682. E-mail addresses: ljbinkowski@gmail.com (L.J. Binkowski), katarzyna.sawicka- kapusta@uj.edu.pl (K. Sawicka-Kapusta). Chemosphere 119 (2015) 620–625 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Chemosphere journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/chemosphere