VOLUME 1 Issue 3/4

The composition of heavy metals in the bees’ tissues Depending from ecological state of the environment

Josyp RIVIS1*, Doctor of Agricultural sciences,

Ivan SARANCHUK2, Oleh KLYM1, Oleksandr DIACHENKO1, Olga STADNYTSKA1, 

Vasyl FEDAK1, Candidates of Agricultural sciences,

Olha Hopanenko3, Candidate of Biological sciences

1Institute of Agriculture of Carpatian Region NAAS,

2Bukovyna State Agricultural Experimental Station of NAAS,

3Higher Educational Communal Institution of Lviv Regional Council “Andrey Krupynsky”.

The article states that experimental apiaries of clinically healthy honey bees of the Carpathian breed were selected on the basis of private apiary farms in the mountain, foothill and forest-steppe zones of the Lviv region. To assess the intensity of man-made load on the environment where experimental honey bee apiaries are located, the content of Ferrum, Zinc, Copper, Chromium, Cobalt, Nickel, Plumbum and Cadmium in the topsoil, bee pollen and tissues of honey bees was determined. It was found that in the foothills and forest-steppe zones of the Carpathian region, compared to the mountain, there is a higher total content of all investigated heavy metals (Ferrum, Zinc, Copper, Cobalt, Chromium, Nickel, Plumbum and Cadmium) in the arable layer of the soil. Exceeding the maximum permissible concentration is observed only in relation to the level of Plumbum and Cadmium in the forest-steppe zone. At the same time, an increase in the level of Cadmium and Chromium is found in bee hives of the foothills and forest-steppe zones of the Carpathian region, compared to mountain ones, at permissible concentrations. The total content of the studied heavy metals in the tissues of honey bees in the foothills and forest-steppe zones of the Carpathian region, compared to the mountain zone, is higher. The level of dangerous elements of the first class of toxicity – Plumbum and Cadmium – increases especially significantly in the tissues of honey bees of the foothills and forest-steppe zones, compared to the conditionally clean mountain environment. In the Carpathian region, all heavy metals accumulate in greater quantities in the abdominal tissues of honey bees than in the tissues of the chest and head. The tissues of honey bees can generally be bioindicators of the ecological state of the environment by their content of heavy metals. In the foothills and especially in the forest-steppe zones of the Carpathian region, compared to bees in the mountain zone, the honey productivity of worker bees is lower. The high level of heavy metals in the topsoil, bee pollen and tissues of honey bees obtained from beehives located in the foothills and especially the forest-steppe zones of the Carpathian region is a consequence of the urbanization and industrialization of the territory.

Key words: natural zones, heavy metals, arable soil layer, bee pollen, bee tissues, honey productivity, bioindicators.