A Prospective Biomonitoring Campaign with Honey Bees in a District of Upper-Bavaria (Germany)

Abstract

In order to establish a monitoring method to track long term changes of the amount of anthropogenic contamination in a district of Bavaria (Germany), a biomonitoring campaign with honey bees was performed in spring 2002. Expected anomalies from the industry or from residential areas in the sampled district could not be detected. An anomaly over a considerable part of the sampling area correlating with other phenomena lead to the hypothesis of a prehistoric cosmic impact. Moreover a principal component analysis of the data showed evidence for a biogenic, an anthropogenic and an unknown component hypothetically related to a possible cosmic impact.

Spatial and temporal variation of metal concentrations in adult honeybees (Apis mellifera L.)

“…Honeybees ( Apis mellifera L.) are potentially highly useful as bioindicators in detecting and monitoring environmental pollution, given their worldwide usage for honey production and pollination and their wide-ranging foraging behaviour (Bromenshenk and Preston 1986; Raeymaekers 2006). 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).…”

“…Honeybees pick up heavy metals from the environment through a wide range of pathways: by ingestion of polluted surface water, pollen and nectar, by impaction and inhalation of particles during flight and by adhesion of particles to their hairy bodies when moving over plant and soil surfaces during foraging. In this way, honeybees provide an integrated sample of the environmental compartments in the area within their flight range (c. 7 km 2 , Bromenshenk et al 1985), and can therefore serve to indicate anomalies in the environmental distribution of trace metals in time and space (Raeymaekers 2006). Possible mechanisms behind detected anomalies can then be studied with other, more specific methods.…”

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

“…Honeybees pick up heavy metals from the environment through a wide range of pathw ays: by ingestion of polluted surface water, pollen and nectar, by impaction and inhalation of particles during flight, and by adhesion of particles to their hairy bodies when moving over plant and soil surfaces during foraging. In this w ay, honeybees provide an integrated sample of the environmental compartments in the area within their flight range (c. 7 km 2 , Bromenshenk et al, 1985), and can therefore serve to indicate anomalies in the environmental distribution of trace metals in time and space (Raeymaekers, 2006). Possible mechanisms behind detected anomalies can then be studied with other, more specific methods.…”

“…Honeybees (Apis mellifera L) are potentially highly useful to monitor environmental pollution, given their w orldwide usage for honey production and pollination and their w ide-ranging foraging behavior (Bromenshenk & Preston, 1986;Raeymaekers, 2006). 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).…”

Assessment of the Potential of Honeybees (<i>Apis mellifera</i> L.) in Biomonitoring of Air Pollution by Cadmium, Lead and Vanadium

“…Honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) are potentially highly useful to monitor environmental pollution, given their worldwide usage for honey production and pollination and their wide-ranging foraging behavior [1] [2]. 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 [3].…”