ArticlePloS one2015
Honey Bees (Apis mellifera, L.) as Active Samplers of Airborne Particulate Matter.
Article in PloS one, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed.
- Disruption of Antioxidant Defense Systems in Honey Bees and Wild Bees Under Environmental Xenobiotic Pressure.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- A Review of the Physiological Responses and Toxicity Mechanisms of Honey Bees Under Lead Exposure.Insects · 2026Review
- The Fate of Orally Ingested Microplastics During Cooperative Brood Care in Two Social Hymenoptera Species.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Honey as a bioindicator of microplastic pollution: insights from industrial and special honey types.NPJ science of food · 2026Article
- Review
- Biomonitoring with bees and bee products: multielement profiles including technology-critical elements.Monatshefte fur chemie · 2026Article
- Heavy metal pollution from a shooting range revealed by honeybees.Environmental monitoring and assessment · 2025Article
- An Innovative Multi-Omics Approach Reveals the Interactions Between Honeybees and Their Environment.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Harnessing Electrostatic Forces: A Review of Bees as Bioindicators for Particulate Matter Detection.Insects · 2025Review
- Environmental pollution effect on honey bees and their derived products: a comprehensive analysis.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2025Review
- The use of honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) to monitor airborne particulate matter and assess health effects on pollinators.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2025Review
- Air pollution modifies colonisation factors in beneficial symbiont Snodgrassella and disrupts the bumblebee gut microbiome.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2025Article
- Combined Toxic Effects of Lead and Glyphosate onInsects · 2024Article
- Article
- Review
- Short-term particulate matter contamination severely compromises insect antennal olfactory perception.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Diesel exhaust particles alter gut microbiome and gene expression in the bumblebeeEcology and evolution · 2023Article
- Workers ofAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Article
- Effect of Rearing in Small-Cell Combs on Activities of Catalase and Superoxide Dismutase and Total Antioxidant Capacity in the Hemolymph ofAntioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Antimicrobial-Resistant Environmental Bacteria Isolated Using a Network of Honey Bee Colonies (Transboundary and emerging diseases · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) are bioindicators of environmental pollution levels. During their wide-ranging foraging activity, these hymenopterans are exposed to pollutants, thus becoming a useful tool to trace the environmental contaminants as heavy metals, pesticides, radionuclides and volatile organic compounds. In the present work we demonstrate that bees can also be used as active samplers of airborne particulate matter. Worker bees were collected from hives located in a polluted postmining area in South West Sardinia (Italy) that is also exposed to dust emissions from industrial plants. The area is included in an official list of sites of national interest for environmental remediation, and has been characterized for the effects of pollutants on the health of the resident population. The head, wings, hind legs and alimentary canal of the bees were investigated with Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled with X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX). The analyses pointed to specific morphological and chemical features of the particulate, and resulted into the identification of three categories of particles: industry-, postmining-, and soil-derived. With the exception of the gut, all the analyzed body districts displayed inorganic particles, mostly concentrated in specific areas of the body (i.e. along the costal margin of the fore wings, the medial plane of the head, and the inner surface of the hind legs). The role of both past mining activities and the industrial activity close to the study area as sources of the particulate matter is also discussed. We conclude that honey bees are able to collect samples of the main airborne particles emitted from different sources, therefore could be an ideal tool for monitoring such a kind of pollutants.
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