honey bees estimating the environmental impact of chemicals for sale

honey bees estimating the environmental impact of chemicals for sale
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  • Why do Honey Bees monitor environmental quality?
  • It is this accumulation of contaminants in or on honey bees and their hive matrices: pollen, honey, and beeswax, that facilitate their use as monitors of environmental quality (Sadeghi et al., 2012, Silici et al., 2016, Zarić et al., 2016).
  • How can European honey bees improve biomonitoring efforts?
  • The European honey bee, Apis mellifera, has unique characteristics that can improve upon biomonitoring efforts using other insect species. As the main managed pollinator of agricultural systems, A. mellifera has diverse interactions with the environment and is a microlivestock of global distribution.
  • Are honey bees a biomonitor?
  • We focus on three main areas: honey bees as biomonitors of 1) environmental contaminants, including heavy metals, airborne particulate matter, persistent chemicals, and agrochemical pesticides, 2) plant and pollinator pathogens, and 3) emerging threats such as climate change and antimicrobial resistance.
  • What methods are used to analyze heavy metals in honey bees?
  • Techniques used for the analysis of heavy metals in honey bees include atomic absorption spectrometry (Conti and Botrè, 2001, Perugini et al., 2011), inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (van der Steen et al., 2012), and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (Smith et al., 2019, Zarić et al., 2018, 2021).