Abstract
In this study, we determined the levels of elements (i.e. As, Be, Cd, Cr, Hg, Ni, Pb, U, and Zn) in bees and edible beehive products (honey, wax, pollen, and propolis) sampled from five selected sites in the Rome province (Italy). Rationale: to increase the information variety endowment, the monitoring breakdown structure (MBS) conceptual model was used (nine elements, 429 samples, and approximately thirteen thousand determinations over a 1-year survey). Thus, we employed Johnson’s probabilistic method to build the control charts. Then, we measured the element concentration overlap ranges and the overlap bioaccumulation index (OBI). Subsequently, we evaluated the estimated daily intake (EDI) of the analysed elements and matched them with acceptable reference doses. The human health risk caused by the intake of individual elements found in edible beehive products and their risk summation were evaluated through the target hazard quotient (THQ) and hazard index (HI) methods. Findings: excluding honey, this study confirms the capacity of wax, pollen, propolis, and bees to accumulate high levels of toxic and potentially toxic elements from the surrounding environment (with high OBI-U, i.e. OBI-Upper values, i.e. the common upper concentration limit of the overlap concentration range). Bees and pollen showed a high bioaccumulation Cd surplus (OBI-U = 44.0 and 22.3, respectively). On the contrary, honey had high OBI-L values (i.e. honey concentrates metals several times less than the common lower concentration limit of the overlap concentration range). This finding implies that honey is useless as an environmental indicator compared with the other biomonitor/indicators. The EDI values for the edible beehive products were lower than the health and safety reference doses for all the considered elements. Our data show that honey, wax, propolis, and pollen are safe for consumption by both adults and children (THQ < 1; HI < 1), even considering the sporadic possibility of consuming them simultaneously. Originality: This study has been conducted for the first time in the Rome province and demonstrates that edible indicators are safe for consumption for the considered elements in bees and edible beehive products. Depending on the ecosystem/pollutants studied, the OBI consents to make a correct choice for environmental biomonitoring studies and to focus the attention on the most sensitive biomonitors/indicators when required at the project level.
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The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
The authors are particularly indebted to Marco Papi and Massimo Marcolini, past and current presidents, respectively, of the Association of Beekeepers of Rome and Province for their outstanding support at all stages of sampling. We are also greatly obliged to Helga Liselotte for her kind support during our stays in Oriolo. We also thank Fabrizio Piacentini and Raffaele Cirone [(president of the Italian Beekeeping Federation (FAI)] for their kind support of this project. Eventually, we also thank Martina Ristorini for her support during the sampling campaign.
Funding
This work was financed by Sapienza, University of Rome,project 2018, prot. RG11816432851FA6 (Principal Investigator Prof. M.E. Conti).
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M.E. Conti, M.G. Finoia — conceptualization; M.E. Conti, M.L. Astolfi, S. Canepari — methodology; M.L. Astolfi, M.E. Conti, S. Canepari — resources, sampling; M.L. Astolfi, M.E.
Conti, L. Massimi — validation, chemical analyses; M.E. Conti and M.G. Finoia — data curation,
software, writing — original draft; M.E. Conti, M.G. Finoia, M.L. Astolfi — writing — review and.
editing; M.E. Conti, M.L. Astolfi, L. Massimi, S. Canepari — supervision; M.E. Conti — funding acquisition.
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Conti, M.E., Astolfi, M.L., Finoia, M.G. et al. Biomonitoring of element contamination in bees and beehive products in the Rome province (Italy). Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 36057–36074 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-18072-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-18072-3