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Harnessing Electrostatic Forces: A Review of Bees as Bioindicators for Particulate Matter Detection
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This review explores how bees can serve as living environmental monitors because their bodies naturally collect airborne particles, including microplastics, through electrostatic forces. By analyzing what sticks to bees, scientists can track the presence and spread of microplastics, heavy metals, pesticides, and other pollutants in the environment. This biomonitoring approach could provide a cost-effective way to map microplastic contamination in the air across different regions.
Bees (Hymenoptera, Anthophila) are widely recognized for their essential ecological roles, including pollination and biodiversity maintenance. Recently, their ability to collect environmental particulate matter through electrostatic forces has been explored for biomonitoring purposes. This review integrates knowledge on electrostatic pollen adhesion with emerging insights into particulate matter adhesion to bees, emphasizing their potential as bioindicators. The mechanisms of electrostatic adhesion, influenced by factors such as the physicochemical properties of particulate matter and bee morphology, are discussed in detail. Additionally, the study evaluates the adhesion efficiency of pollutants, including heavy metals, microplastics, nanoplastics, pathogens, pesticides, radionuclides, and volatile organic compounds. This multidisciplinary approach underscores the role of bees in advancing environmental monitoring methodologies and offers innovative tools for assessing ecosystem health while addressing the drivers of bee decline.
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Honey Bees as Bioindicators of Air Pollution: A Narrative Review on Human Health Implications
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This review explores the use of honey bees as bioindicators of air pollution, including airborne microplastics, within a One Health framework. Researchers found that bees accumulate environmental contaminants during foraging, making them effective biological monitors for tracking air quality and pollution exposure relevant to both ecosystem and human health.
Evaluation of microplastic pollution using bee colonies: An exploration of various sampling methodologies
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This study evaluated honeybees, pollen, and a novel in-hive passive sampler called the APITrap as biological and passive monitors for microplastic pollution, finding that honeybees and pollen effectively captured particles from the surrounding environment.
Honeybees as sentinels of microplastic pollution: a meta-analysis of accumulation, toxicity, and biomonitoring potential
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This review pulled together findings from 139 studies showing that honeybees pick up microplastics (tiny plastic bits) from the environment, and these particles can end up in honey, pollen, and wax, products many people eat or use daily. Because bees fly over large areas and are sensitive to pollution, scientists suggest using them as living "pollution detectors" to track microplastic contamination in the environment, which could also signal risks to the food we eat and the crops bees pollinate. More research is still needed to understand exactly how harmful long-term microplastic exposure is to bees and, by extension, to us.
Microplastic contamination in the agri-food chain: The case of honeybees and beehive products
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Researchers investigated microplastic and microfiber contamination in honeybees and beehive products across urban and rural areas in Southern Italy. They confirmed that microplastics were present on bee bodies and in honey, wax, and propolis regardless of the surrounding environment, indicating widespread airborne contamination. The findings suggest that honeybees and their products could serve as bioindicators for monitoring microplastic pollution in the atmosphere.
Bio-Monitoring of environmental pollution using the citizen science approach
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This project developed and tested citizen science protocols using honeybees as biomonitors for detecting environmental pollutants including pesticides, microplastics, and heavy metals across European landscapes. Bees collect materials from their surroundings, making them practical living sensors for tracking atmospheric and environmental contamination in a cost-effective, large-scale monitoring network.
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