Bioindicators and biomonitoring: honeybees and hive products as pollution impact assessment tools for the Mediterranean area

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.

Quality Control of Different Types of Honey and Propolis Collected from Romanian Accredited Beekeepers and Consumer’s Risk Assessment

“…The examination of bee products-honey, wax, bees, pollen, etc.-can provide valuable data on the presence of pollutants in the environment. As honey is a product for human consumption, its contamination with various compounds is frequently studied [29][30][31].…”

Bee foraging preferences, microbiota and pathogens revealed by direct shotgun metagenomics of honey

“…These complex ecological interactions, coupled with numerous foraging activities and storage capacity, has rendered honeybee colonies and bee‐associated products unique large‐scale biomonitoring tools that can provide information on the state of ecosystems (Girotti et al, 2020; Quigley et al, 2019). Thus, it is imperative that, in order to implement effective biomonitoring strategies, a shift from targeted approaches towards practices able to quantify interactive pressures on honeybee colonies is needed.…”

Pollen preferences of stingless bees in the Amazon region and southern highlands of Ecuador by scanning electron microscopy and morphometry

“…The potential of bees as bioindicators of the health environment is well known within biomonitoring, due to their foraging job [ 161 ]. Bees can storage in their nest large quantities of soil, vegetation, air and water residuals [ 162 ]. These characteristics turn bees in effective monitoring agents of zones affected by human practices.…”