The aim of this research was to evaluate as a proof of concept, a quantitative relationship between atmospheric particulate matter (PM 10 ), atmospheric heavy metals (Pb, Ni and Cd) and Pb, Ni and Cd concentrations accumulated on bees reared in a beehive in the urban territory in Milan. For this purpose, a beehive called the Honey Factory, located in the Triennale museum area in Milano, was considered in the trial from May to October 2015. Every two days, bees found dead in the beehive were collected and the concentration of lead, cadmium and nickel on the bees bodies were evaluated through atomic absorption analysis. In the same period, data about atmospheric dust, Lead, Cadmium and Nickel, were daily downloaded by the ARPA website. The comparison between atmospheric and animal data has revealed a tight relation. Linear regressions for animals and atmosphere were calculated: when the concentration of atmospheric lead exceeded the value of 4 ng/m3, bees 'carried' about 0.7 mg/kg of lead. When the lead atmospheric concentration was higher than 15 ng/m3, lead on the bee's body was more than 0.9 mg/kg (y ¼ 0.1006x þ 0.573, R 2 ¼ 0.98). A similar relationship was detected for Nickel. This study showed that heavy metals accumulated on honeybees depend on the atmospheric concentrations measured during the month before animal sampling and that PM 10 pollution level seems to contribute to Pb and Ni levels detected on the animals. HIGHLIGHTSBees are environmental quality indicators. Pb, Ni, Cd (HM) were detected on bees and in the air. HM on bees depend on the atmospheric concentration. ARTICLE HISTORY

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Rustling is an age-old practice that was widespread in Italy until the first half of the 20 th century. Today, incidents of cattle rustling are again being reported. However, the problem is not only found in Italy. It is also becoming a plague for ranchers in the US and is still rampant in East Africa. In Italy, the cattle rustling phenomena have usually been limited through the direct control of the herdsmen. Global positioning system (GPS) and geographic information system (GIS) combined technologies are increasingly applied for tracking and monitoring livestock with greater spatial and temporal resolution. However, so far, no case studies of the use of GPS technology to combat cattle rustling have been reported in the literature. The aim of this research was to develop a GPS/GSM (global system for mobile communication) collar, using commercial hardware and implementing a specific software [ARVAshepherd 1.0; ARVAtec Srl, Rescaldina (MI), Italy] to track animals' movements outside their grazing area and to signal when animals are straying outside virtual perimeters. A phase I study was conducted from January to June 2011 to build the GPS/GSM collar and to assess its performances in terms of GPS accuracy and precision, while a phase II study was conducted in July 2011 to test the GPS collar under real-life operating conditions. The static GPS positioning error achieved a circular error probable (50%) and horizontal 95% accuracy of 1.462 m and 4.501 m, respectively. This is comparable with values obtained by other authors in static tests of a commercial GPS collar for grazing studies. In field tests, the system was able to identify the incorrect position of the cattle and the warning messages were sent promptly to the farmer, continuing until the animals had been repositioned inside the fence, thus highlighting the potential of the GPS/GSM collar as an anti-theft system. IntroductionRustling refers to the act of stealing livestock, especially cattle and sheep, from a farm or a pasture. Rustling was very widespread in Italian grazing areas until the first half of the 20 th century, but recent decades have seen a gradual decline following changes in farming techniques which led to a reduction in the number of pastured herds (Bassignana, 2005). In the last few years, however, livestock theft has been reappearing throughout Italy. The national law enforcement agency estimated that, during 2008, thousands of heads of cattle were stolen and sent to illegal slaughterhouses. Cattle rustling is an offense that goes beyond the direct interests of the agricultural sector and affects the whole community. More specifically, it affects product quality and public health. Cattle theft is an international problem that is growing because of the current economic recession. Cattle rustling is becoming a plague for US ranchers as reported more and more frequently by media and cattle producers' associations. During 2005, the theft of cattle and calves in the US totalled 0.6% and 0.5%, respectively, of non-predator losses. Thes...

Rustling is an age-old practice that was widespread in Italy until the first half of the 20 th century. Today, incidents of cattle rustling are again being reported. However, the problem is not only found in Italy. It is also becoming a plague for ranchers in the US and is still rampant in East Africa. In Italy, the cattle rustling phenomena have usually been limited through the direct control of the herdsmen. Global positioning system (GPS) and geographic information system (GIS) combined technologies are increasingly applied for tracking and monitoring livestock with greater spatial and temporal resolution. However, so far, no case studies of the use of GPS technology to combat cattle rustling have been reported in the literature. The aim of this research was to develop a GPS/GSM (global system for mobile communication) collar, using commercial hardware and implementing a specific software [ARVAshepherd 1.0; ARVAtec Srl, Rescaldina (MI), Italy] to track animals' movements outside their grazing area and to signal when animals are straying outside virtual perimeters. A phase I study was conducted from January to June 2011 to build the GPS/GSM collar and to assess its performances in terms of GPS accuracy and precision, while a phase II study was conducted in July 2011 to test the GPS collar under real-life operating conditions. The static GPS positioning error achieved a circular error probable (50%) and horizontal 95% accuracy of 1.462 m and 4.501 m, respectively. This is comparable with values obtained by other authors in static tests of a commercial GPS collar for grazing studies. In field tests, the system was able to identify the incorrect position of the cattle and the warning messages were sent promptly to the farmer, continuing until the animals had been repositioned inside the fence, thus highlighting the potential of the GPS/GSM collar as an anti-theft system.

No abstract