Bioindicators and biomonitoring: honeybees and hive products as pollution impact assessment tools for the Mediterranean
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(2020) 5:62
CONFERENCE PAPER
Bioindicators and biomonitoring: honeybees and hive products as pollution impact assessment tools for the Mediterranean area Stefano Girotti1 · Severino Ghini1 · Elida Ferri1 · Luca Bolelli1 · Roberto Colombo2 · Giorgia Serra2 · Claudio Porrini3 · Stefano Sangiorgi1 Received: 1 May 2020 / Accepted: 18 September 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
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. Keywords Bioindicators · Environmental monitoring · Honeybees · Pesticides · Heavy metals · Organic pollutants · Radionuclides
Environmental biomonitoring Widespread anthropization and various human activities are degrading the environment with increasing intensity. Our awareness of the incalculable damage, including serious diseases, caused by continually discharging chemicals into Communicated by Mohamed Ksibi, Co-Editor in Chief. This paper was selected from the 2nd Euro-Mediterranean Conference for Environmental Integration (EMCEI), Tunisia 2019. * Stefano Girotti [email protected] 1
Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Via San Donato 15, 40127 Bologna, Italy
2
Agricultural Research and Economy Council, Bologna Research Centre, Bologna, Italy
3
Department of Agroenvironmental Science and Technology, University of Bologna, Via G. Fanin 42, 40127 Bologna, Italy
the environment has grown considerably over the last few decades, especially in relation to persistent and accumulating pollutants. Nevertheless, the number of toxicants that have been released into the environment is now very large, and only a tiny fraction of those substances a
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