Honeybees and honey as monitors for heavy metal contamination near thermal power plants in Mugla, Turkey

SİLİCİ S., Uluozlu O. D., Tuzen M., SOYLAK M.

TOXICOLOGY AND INDUSTRIAL HEALTH, cilt.32, sa.3, ss.507-516, 2016 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 32 Sayı: 3
  • Basım Tarihi: 2016
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1177/0748233713503393
  • Dergi Adı: TOXICOLOGY AND INDUSTRIAL HEALTH
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.507-516
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Trace element, microwave digestion, honey, honeybee, atomic absorption spectrometry, thermal power plants, ATOMIC-ABSORPTION-SPECTROMETRY, TRACE-ELEMENT LEVELS, MINERAL-COMPOSITION, DIFFERENT REGIONS, BEE PRODUCTS, SAMPLES, IONS, FISH, LEAD, SPECTROSCOPY
  • Erciyes Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

In the present work, 6 honeydew samples of known geographical and botanical origins and 11 honeybee samples were analyzed to detect possible contamination by the thermoelectric power plants in Mugla, Turkey. The contents of trace elements were determined by atomic absorption spectrometry after application of microwave digestion. The samples from the thermal power plants, which were 10-22 km away from the hives, that did not cause pollution in honeydew honeys were also analyzed. The levels of copper, cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), zinc, manganese, iron, chromium, nickel, and aluminum were similar to the values found in other recent studies in literature. However, it was found that the contamination levels of the toxic elements such as Pb and Cd in honeybee samples measured relatively higher than that of honey samples. The study concludes that honeybees may be better bioindicators of heavy metal pollution than honey.