Heavy Metal (Hg, Cr, Cd, and Pb) Contamination in Urban Areas and Wildlife Reserves: Honeybees as Bioindicators

Abstract

The degree of heavy metal (Hg, Cr, Cd, and Pb) pollution in honeybees (Apis mellifera) was investigated in several sampling sites around central Italy including both polluted and wildlife areas. The honeybee readily inhabits all environmental compartments, such as soil, vegetation, air, and water, and actively forages the area around the hive. Therefore, if it functions in a polluted environment, plant products used by bees may also be contaminated, and as a result, also a part of these pollutants will accumulate in the organism. The bees, foragers in particular, are good biological indicators that quickly detect the chemical impairment of the environment by the high mortality and the presence of pollutants in their body or in beehive products. The experiment was carried out using 24 colonies of honeybees bred in hives dislocated whether within urban areas or in wide countryside areas. Metals were analyzed on the foragers during all spring and summer seasons, when the bees were active. Results showed no presence of mercury in all samples analyzed, but honeybees accumulated several amounts of lead, chromium, and cadmium. Pb reported a statistically significant difference among the stations located in urban areas and those in the natural reserves, showing the highest values in honeybees collected from hives located in Ciampino area (Rome), next to the airport. The mean value for this sampling station was 0.52 mg kg(-1), and July and September were characterized by the highest concentrations of Pb. Cd also showed statistically significant differences among areas, while for Cr no statistically significant differences were found.

Use of Honeybees as Bio-Indicators of Environmental Pollution in the Kurdistan Province of Iran

“…The lowest Hg content was found as 1.125 ppm in the Ghorveh samples. Perugini et al (2011) did not demonstrate Hg presence in honeybee samples. In principle, the pollutants can be accumulated in soil and plants (Spodniewska, 2007), and are collected by bees along with nectar and pollen (Roman, 2004;Roman, 2009).…”

“…There are a few publications dealing with honeybees and metal pollution (Crane, 1984, Porrini et al, 2003Perugini et al, 2011). In the current research, the highest concentration of Hg was measured as 4.786 ppm in the samples from Kamyaran.…”

“…Thus, the contamination in the form of heavy metals building up in the honeybee's body may reflect the contamination of plants, soil, air, and water in a certain area. According to many investigations (Porrini et al, 2003;Perugini et al, 2011;Crane, 1984) bees are good indicators of pollution in a given area, and the range of their visitation is 3 km 2 (Devillers et al, 2002). The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the effectiveness of honeybees as biological indicators of the presence of mercury (Hg), barium (Ba), calcium (Ca), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), lithium (Li), arsenic (As), sodium (Na), and potassium (K) in the environment, by comparing data obtained from different counties being sampled.…”

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

“…Bio-indication of plant pathogens is a small field limited to Erwinia amylovora. (Perugini et al, 2011). The incidence of pesticides and heavy metals over a threeyear study (2008)(2009)(2010) in natural reserves in the Marche region in Italy has been studied in live be es, dead bees and honey.…”

“…Therefore, in bio-indication studies only significant e xceeded concentrations of metals in honeybees studied under defined site conditions, indicate an extra exposure of bees to heavy metals and may draw attention for further studies. Concentrations of heavy metals show significant temporal and spatial variation (Lambert et al, 2012 b ;Perugini et al, 2011;Ruschioni et al, 2013;Satta et al, 2012;. Bio-indication studies revealed that high heavy metal concentrations can only be detected in live honeybees and not in honey and dead bees (Ruschioni et al, 2013).…”