Honey bees as biomonitors of metals in the environment

Honey bees reflect pollution present in all aspects of the environment. Direct sources are deposition of particulate matter from air on their hairy bodies or water through. Soil pollution is either taken up by plants and transferred to pollen and nectar consumed by bees, or are transported into the air by resuspension of soil into the air and are consequently directly deposited on bees and on plant organs. This is why honey bees are used as biomonitors.
We have used honey bees to compare spatial and temporal differences in metal pollution in honey bees from different locations in Serbia. For this work honey bees were digested using microwave assisted digestion and analyzed on an ICPMS instrument. The data was processed using statistical methods, including ANOVA, CA and PCA. To better explain Pb differences Pb isotope ratios were measured in honey bees for the first time and SOM was used to better explain the findings.
The toxicity of some elements does not only depend on their concentrations but on the chemical form as well. One example is arsenic. We have developed a HPLC-ICPMS method to study different arsenic species in the environment using honey bees as biomonitors.
With the advancement of analytical instruments, it was possible to analyze elemental composition of individual bees. Through this we have studied the variability of elements in-hive and between-hives. The conclusion was that whenever possible individual bees should be used, or at least bees from three to five different hives from the same location.