Abstract
The global range of the environmental quality issues we all face necessitates integrated action from all of the countries that suffer from a particular environmental issue. We must be able to obtain data on the presence of pollutants and their effects on biota from any territory, regardless of its environmental, infrastructural, social, and economic conditions. Biomonitoring utilizes organisms and natural materials to obtain this information. In particular, the honeybee is a ubiquitous, easy-to-breed organism with great mobility. Its body, which is covered with hairs, picks up materials and particulates that it encounters in the environment. Therefore, bees are highly effective accumulators of materials from the soil, vegetation, air, and water. These characteristics mean that the honeybee is both a bioindicator and a passive bioaccumulator organism, making it an ideal agent for easily monitoring vast areas inexpensively, even in regions where infrastructure is scarce. In this short review, we summarize the main targets of the honeybee-based monitoring campaigns that have been carried out to date, highlighting the results obtained in assessments of organic and inorganic pollution performed by coupling more modern technologies with this long-standing practice. It is hoped that this review will make scientists more aware of the incredible potential of these delicate organisms to provide data that could prove useful in the management of environmental issues.
Highlights
Widespread anthropization and various human activities are degrading the environment with increasing intensity
Crop-growing maps Pollen identification monitor the levels of pesticides in fields and on vegetables visited by honeybees (Quigley et al 2019; Codling et al 2016; Kasiotis et al 2014; Barganska et al 2018; de Oliveira et al 2016)
The results demonstrated that pollen was the best indicator of atmospheric contamination levels, and the bees themselves proved to be useful: measurements of the radionuclides in this matrix showed a strong correlation with ground deposition values (R = 0.95)
Summary
One of the main challenges in contamination surveillance is to comprehensively characterize and evaluate the impacts of the presence of a complex mixture of pollutants on the environment. Honeybeebased biomonitoring is currently performed in many Mediterranean countries, such as Spain (Gutiérrez et al 2015), Italy (Perugini et al 2018), Croatia (Barišić et al 2002), France (Badiou-Beneteau et al 2013; Cotton et al 2014), Greece (Kasiotis et al 2014), Turkey (Yarsan et al 2007), Iran (Sadegh et al 2012), and Egypt (Malhat et al 2015), as the favorable Mediterranean climate allows honeybee activity to be exploited for most of the year This organism is easy to breed, almost ubiquitous, and has modest food requirements. Its very high rate of reproduction and relatively short average lifespan causes honeybee colonies to undergo rapid, continuous regeneration, which plays a fundamental role in colony survival These organisms do not accumulate and retain pollutants in their tissues for long periods; they transfer the compounds they collect to their products, such as honey, which is used as a biomonitoring tool. Europe, but all over the world Italy Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia Nepal, Laos, and China Indonesia Russia, New Guinea India and Indonesia Southeastern Asia Borneo
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