Honeybess as environmental indicators of heavy metals and atmospheric dust concentration

There is a wide part of literature demonstrating that adult honeybees could be used as indicators of environmental pollution (1) because of the wide range of pollutants and heavy metals captured by bees from soil, air, water and plants (2). Bioaccumulated metals depend mainly on site type, and the concentrations of nonessential elements, such as Pb and Cd, in bees are affected by seasonal and spatial variation (3, 4). This study was aimed at evaluating the potential relationship between atmospheric particulate matter (PM10), atmospheric heavy metals (Pb, Ni and Cd) and the same metals on bees . For this purpose, an urban apiary in Lombardy, was considered, from Springtime to Autumn. During each month of the trial, three sub samples of around 10 bees, found dead within 3 m from the hive were collected using plastic gloves, and taken to the laboratory to evaluate the concentration of Lead and Cadmium sampling, through atomic absorption (AAS; Analyst 700; Perkin-Elmer, Norwalk, Connecticut, USA). Data about atmospheric heavy metals and dust concentrations were downloaded from the ARPA (Agenzia Regionale per la Protezione dell’Ambiente) Lombardia website. Data about atmospheric lead, nickel and cadmium were organized in 3 classes to be submitted to linear regressions analysis of SAS Statistical Package 9.4. The collected data showed a clear relationship between atmospheric dust, atmospheric heavy metals and metals detected on bees body. Linear regressions for animals and atmosphere were obtained for Lead (Y = 0.1006x + 0.573, R2 = 0.98) and for Nickel ( y=0.0621x + 0.1717, R2=0.76). For Cadmium, the obtained linear regression between atmospheric and honeybees metal did not show a robust relationship between the two parameters (R2=0.170). This study showed that Pb and Ni accumulated on honeybees depend on metals and on PM10 atmospheric concentration in their site of collection.