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.

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