Biomonitoring of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, heavy metals, and plasticizers residues: role of bees and honey as bioindicators of environmental contamination. in Environmental science and pollution research international

2023
ARPA Piemonte

Tipo pubblicazione

Journal Article

Autori/Collaboratori (15)Vedi tutti...

Di Fiore C
Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, University of Molise, Via De Sanctis, 86100, Campobasso, Italy.
De Cristofaro A
Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, University of Molise, Via De Sanctis, 86100, Campobasso, Italy.
Nuzzo A
Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, University of Molise, Via De Sanctis, 86100, Campobasso, Italy.

et alii...

Abstract

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), heavy metals, and plasticizer residues are continuously released into the environment. The use of living organisms, such as Apis mellifera L. and honey, is advantageous as bioindicator of the environmental health status, instead of traditional monitoring methods, showing the ability to record spatial and temporal pollutant variations. The PAHs and heavy metal presence were determined in two sampling years (2017 and 2018) in five different locations in the Molise region (Italy), characterized by different pollution levels. During 2017, most PAHs in all samples were lower than limit of detection (LOD), while in 2018, their mean concentration in bee and honey samples was of 3 ?g kg(-1) and 35 ?g kg(-1), respectively. For heavy metals, lower values were detected in 2017 (Be, Cd, and V below LOD), while in 2018, the mean concentrations were higher, 138 ?g kg(-1) and 69 ?g kg(-1), in bees and honey, respectively. Honey has been used as indicator of the presence of phthalate esters and bisphenol A in the environment. The satisfactory results confirmed that both bees and honey are an important tool for environmental monitoring. The chemometric analysis highlighted the differences in terms of pollutant concentration and variability in the different areas, validating the suitability of these matrices as bioindicators.

Accesso banca dati bibliografica

PMID : 36683105

DOI : 10.1007/s11356-023-25339-4

Keywords

Apis mellifera; Environmental bioindicators; POPs; Pollution; Source apportionment;