Feasibility study of use of honeybees as a bioindicator for detection of variation trends of heavy metals in the environment

Honeybees have great potential for monitoring environmental quality, due to their wide-ranging foraging behavior and also their inherent properties. Therefore, this study was conducted to use of honeybees as a potential bioindicator for detection of as, Zn, Pb and Ni variation trends in the environment in 2016. In so doing, a total of 180 soil, plant (including root and aerial part), honeybees and honey samples were collected from 12 stations in the main regions of beekeeping and production of honey in Markazi Province, Iran. After preparation and acid digestion of samples, the heavy metal contents were measured using inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Based on the results among the analyzed bee samples, as was detected in amounts ranging from 0.03 to 11.95 mg kg-1, Zn was ranged from 42.32 to 168.00 mg kg-1, Pb was ranged from 0.10 to 19.92 mg kg-1 and Ni was ranged from 0.97 to 5.74 mg kg-1. Meanwhile, the mean contents of as, Ni, Pb and Zn (mg kg-1) in honey samples were estimated to be 0.55, 11.82, 0.36 and 1.88, respectively. The results indicated that the positive correlations were found between contents of as, Zn, Pb and Ni in areal part of Astragalus gossypinus and bee samples, while, the correlations between contents of As, Zn, Pb and Ni in areal part of A. gossypinus and honey samples were negative. Therefore, it should be admitted that bees can detect more precise changes of elements in the environment and for this reason, this species as a potential bioindicator can be used to the detection of various trends of heavy metals in the environment in which they live in.