Ilić, D.; Brkić, B.; Sekulić, M.T. Biomonitoring: Developing a Beehive Air Volatiles Profile as an Indicator of Environmental Contamination Using a Sustainable In-Field Technique. Sustainability2024, 16, 1713.
Ilić, D.; Brkić, B.; Sekulić, M.T. Biomonitoring: Developing a Beehive Air Volatiles Profile as an Indicator of Environmental Contamination Using a Sustainable In-Field Technique. Sustainability 2024, 16, 1713.
Ilić, D.; Brkić, B.; Sekulić, M.T. Biomonitoring: Developing a Beehive Air Volatiles Profile as an Indicator of Environmental Contamination Using a Sustainable In-Field Technique. Sustainability2024, 16, 1713.
Ilić, D.; Brkić, B.; Sekulić, M.T. Biomonitoring: Developing a Beehive Air Volatiles Profile as an Indicator of Environmental Contamination Using a Sustainable In-Field Technique. Sustainability 2024, 16, 1713.
Abstract
The wellbeing of the honey bee colonies and the health of humans are connected in numerous ways. Therefore, ensuring the well-being of bees is a crucial component of fostering sustainability and ecological harmony. The colony collapse disorder (CCD) phenomenon was first reported in 2006 when majority of bee colonies in Europe died out, due to increase of diseases infections, contamination of hive with agrochemical pesticides and persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Only 6 years after CCD intimation, about 7 million premature deaths were reported, due to the air pollution to which humans are continuously exposed. The use of insect species, such as honey bee Apis mellifera L. and air matrix inside the bee hive can be used as a tool in biomonitoring, instead of traditional monitoring methods. This may have advantages in terms of cost-effective bioindicators of the environmental health status, showing the ability to record spatial and temporal pollutant variations. In this study, we present the in-field use of the portable membrane inlet mass spectrometry (MIMS) instrument for instant and effective determination of the level of environmental pollution by analytical identification of hive atmosphere volatile organic compound (VOCs) contaminants, contained in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (BTEX) compounds and pesticides. The samples will be taken from hives which are located in urbanized and rural regions, where further differences in contamination will be highlighted. The MIMS results will be benchmarked against a conventional laboratory sampling technique such as GC-MS.
Chemistry and Materials Science, Analytical Chemistry
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