Use of honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) as bioindicators of spatial variations and origin determination of metal pollution in Serbia

Honeybees because of their nature have been proposed and used as bioindicators for the last few decades. Until now they have mostly been used to determine the present pollution and to distinguish differences between sampling locations and sampling periods. With the use of multivariate statistical methods honeybees can be used to also distinguish origin of this pollution. In this study concentrations of Al, Ba, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, Sr, and Zn were measured in bodies of adult honeybees collected from nine different apiaries in Serbia. With the help of statistical methods it was established that the least polluted area was the one that has no industrial activities or intense traffic nearby. The most polluted was an urban region, followed by a region close to thermal power plants and ash disposal site. Using PCA and CA origin of the analyzed metals were proposed. It was suggested that Al, Ba, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn and Ni have anthropogenic origin mainly from intensive agriculture, traffic and coal combustion