Relationship between environmental and flora change with mineral content of honey bee products

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate effects of the geographic diversity and plant species on the mineral levels of the honey and honey bee tissues. Furthermore we investigated the effectiveness of honey bees and honey bee products to use as bioindicators for the determination of minerals and heavy metals which carry risk for the environmental pollution. Methods: For this purpose, four different sites were selected in the Black Sea region, with different environmental features in Turkey. A total of 22 bee colonies in these areas were placed for a period of four months. At the end of this period, iron (Fe), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) levels in bee tissue and honey samples were measured by Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometer (Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Spectrometry Emmision = ICP-OES). Results: Mineral levels changed depending on the type of plants where colonies placed (P<0.05). Environmental quality in working areas were correlated with results of the tissue mineral analysis and mineral levels of the honey bee and honey samples (P <0.05). Conclusion: Present findings indicate that mineral contents of the honey bee and honey bee products can vary depending on the type of plants. These results also showed that honey bees and honey could effectively be used as bioindicators for monitoring environmental pollution.