Biomonitoring with Honeybees of Heavy Metals and Pesticides in Nature Reserves of the Marche Region (Italy)

Abstract

The aim of this study was to carry out biomonitoring with honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) to assess the presence of pesticides and heavy metals (cadmium, chromium, nickel, lead) in all of the ten nature reserves of the Marche Region (central–eastern Italy). The study was carried out during the spring and summer seasons when the honeybees were active, over 3 years (2008–2010). Twenty-two colonies of honeybees bred in hives were used. Samples of live and dead honeybees and of honey were collected from 11 sampling stations from May to October in each year. No pesticide pollution was found. Significant differences in heavy metal concentrations were found among years, months and sites, and in particular situations. The analysis reveals that high heavy-metal concentrations occurred exclusively in live honeybees. For the seasonal averages, the most detected heavy metal was chromium, which exceeded the threshold more often than for the other elements, followed by cadmium and lead; nickel never exceeded the threshold. The data are discussed with an evaluation of the natural and anthropic sources taken from the literature and from local situations that were likely to involve heavy metal pollution.

Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals and Pesticides in Honey From Sicily (Italy)

“…Metal concentrations found in honey samples in this study are lower than residual levels obtained by other author in honey from Turkey (Erbilir & Erdogrul, 2005) and Spain (Frias et al, 2008), similar to that obtained in other region of Italy (Ruschioni et al, 2013;Perna, Simonetti, Intaglietta, Sofo, & Gambacorta, 2012) but higher than in France (Lambert et al, 2012). Considering the different floral types, the comparative analysis of metals residual levels in our honey samples (Figure 1) showed higher levels of both Pb and Cd in chestnut honey vs eucalyptus (in accordance with Perna et al, 2012) and vs carob samples.…”

Beehold : the colony of the honeybee (Apis mellifera L) as a bio-sampler for pollutants and plant pathogens

“…Overall in honey, no low concentrations of heavy metals were detected w hich showed no relationship to the concentrations detected in live honeybees. The results show that live honeybees are the preferred matrix for the detection of heavy metals over dead bees and honey (Ruschioni et al, 2013). Satta et al (2012) conducted a three-year biomonitoring study in Italy, using honeybees, honey and pollen and ants to detect heavy metals (Cd, Cr and Pb) in a post mining area in Sardinia.…”

“…The incidence of pesticides and heavy metals over a three-year study (2008)(2009)(2010) in natural reserves in the Marche region in Italy has been studied in live bees, dead bees and honey. Pesticides have not been detected (Ruschioni et al, 2013). In the United States a broad survey study of pesticides residues in wax, pollen and bees revealed high levels of multiple pesticides in bee collected pollen.…”

“…Not surprisingly, studies on the use of honeybees and bee products for environmental monitoring have a relatively long history, dating back to at least 1935 (Crane, 1984). Environmental pollutants included in these s tudies were, among others, heavy metals, w hich the bees may take up from all environmental compartments: vegetation, soil, air and water (Bromenshenk et al, 1985;Conti & Botré, 2001;Leita et al, 1996;Mihaly et al, 2012;Porrini et al, 2013). A recent study by van der a ) indicated that adult honeybees can serve to detect temporal and spatial patterns in environmental concentrations of a w ide range of heavy metals.…”

Estudo da qualidade do mel de abelhas sem ferrão por análise por ativação neutrônica instrumental

“…Estes contaminantes frequentemente se incorporam no tecido das abelhas, pólen, cera, mel ou na própria colméia (WALLWORK-BARBER et al, 1982;BROMENSHENK et al, 1985). Abelhas tem sido usadas como monitoras da presença e distribuição de elementos químicos, incluindo fluoretos (BROMENSHENK et al, 1988;MAYER et al, 1988), arsênio (TERZIC et al, 1984), chumbo (BARISIC et al, 1999), zinco (ASSMANN-WERTHMÜLLER, 1991) níquel (RUSCHIONI et al, 2013), cádmio (RUSCHIONI et al, 2013), potássio (BARBATINI et al, 1991), e a biodisponibilidade de radionuclídeos, incluindo césio, trítio, estrôncio e plutônio (HAKONSON;BOSTICK, 1974;FRESQUEZ, 1997). A integração das análises de radionuclídeos e/ou elementos químicos em abelhas com as de seus recursos alimentares, pólen e mel, fornecem uma informação mais detalhada sobre a dinâmica destas substâncias ambiente (PORRINI et al, 2002).…”