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Industrial activities play a key role in the economic well-being of a country but they usually involve processes with a more or less profound environmental impact, including emission of pollutants. Among them, much attention has been given to airborne particulate matter (PM) whose exposure is ubiquitous and linked with several adverse health effects mainly due to its size and chemical composition. Therefore, there is a strong need to exploit monitoring systems for airborne PM able to provide accurate information on the potential health hazards and the specific emission sources for the implementation of adequate control strategies. The honey bee (Apis mellifera, L.) is widely used as an indicator of environmental pollution: this social hymenopteran strongly interacts with vegetables, air, soil, and water surrounding the hive and, as a consequence, pollutants from these sources are translated to the insect and to the hive products. During the wide-ranging foraging activity, the forager bee is known to collect samples of the main airborne PM pollutants emitted from different sources and therefore it can be used as an efficient PM sampler. In the present research, PM contaminating forager bees living nearby a cement factory and several kilometers away from it has been analysed and characterised morphologically, dimensionally and chemically through SEM/EDX. This provided detailed information on the role of both the cement manufacturing activities and the vehicular traffic as sources of airborne PM. This may indeed help the implementation of appropriate preventive and corrective actions that would effectively minimize the environmental spread of pollutant PM not only in areas close to the plant, but also in more distant areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban areas present multiple challenges to scientists interested in unraveling the source, transport, and fate of airborne particulate matter (PM). Airborne PM consists of a heterogeneous mixture of particles with different sizes, morphologies, and chemical compositions. However, standard air quality stations only detect the mass concentration of PM mixtures with aerodynamic diameters ≤10 μm (PM 10) and/or ≤ 2.5 μm (PM 2.5). During honey bee foraging flights, airborne PM up to 10 μm in size attaches to their bodies, making them suitable for collecting spatiotemporal data on airborne PM. The individual particulate chemistry of this PM can be assessed using scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy on a sub-micrometer scale, allowing accurate identification and classification of the particles. Herein, we analyzed the PM fractions of 10–2.5 μm, 2.5–1 μm, and below 1 μm in average geometric diameter collected by bees from hives located in the city of Milan, Italy. Bees showed contamination by natural dust, originating from soil erosion and rock outcropping in the foraging area, and particles with recurrent heavy metal content, most likely attributed to vehicular braking systems and possibly tires (non-exhaust PM). Notably, approximately 80% of non-exhaust PM was ≤1 μm in size. This study provides a possible alternative strategy to apportion the finer fraction of PM in urban areas and determine citizens' exposure. Our findings may also prompt decision-makers to issue policy addressal for non-exhaust pollution, especially for the ongoing restructuring of European regulations on mobility and the shift toward electric vehicles whose contribution to PM pollution is debated. [Display omitted] • Honeybees are suitable for collecting spatiotemporal data on airborne PM. • Bees show particle contamination from vehicular brakes and tires. • Approximately 80% of such particles were ≤1 μm in size. • We provided an alternative strategy to apportion the finer fraction of PM in urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) are bioindicators of environmental pollution levels. During their wide-ranging foraging activity, these hymenopterans are exposed to pollutants, thus becoming a useful tool to trace the environmental contaminants as heavy metals, pesticides, radionuclides and volatile organic compounds. In the present work we demonstrate that bees can also be used as active samplers of airborne particulate matter. Worker bees were collected from hives located in a polluted postmining area in South West Sardinia (Italy) that is also exposed to dust emissions from industrial plants. The area is included in an official list of sites of national interest for environmental remediation, and has been characterized for the effects of pollutants on the health of the resident population. The head, wings, hind legs and alimentary canal of the bees were investigated with Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled with X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX). The analyses pointed to specific morphological and chemical features of the particulate, and resulted into the identification of three categories of particles: industry -, postmining -, and soil –derived. With the exception of the gut, all the analyzed body districts displayed inorganic particles, mostly concentrated in specific areas of the body (i.e. along the costal margin of the fore wings, the medial plane of the head, and the inner surface of the hind legs). The role of both past mining activities and the industrial activity close to the study area as sources of the particulate matter is also discussed. We conclude that honey bees are able to collect samples of the main airborne particles emitted from different sources, therefore could be an ideal tool for monitoring such a kind of pollutants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Apis mellifera Linnaeus (1758), a honey bee, is a eusocial insect widely known for its role in pollination, an essential ecosystem service for plant biodiversity, and quality of vegetables and fruit products. In addition, honey bees and bee products are valuable bioindicators of pollutants, such as airborne particulate matter, heavy metals, and pesticides. In this review, we explore the provisioning, regulating, and cultural services provided by the honey bee, an insect at the interface between human and ecosystem health. The concept of ecosystem services is widely understood as the services and benefits thatecosystems provide to humans, and they have been categorised into provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural services. This article aims to provide an updated overview of the benefits that the honey bee Apis mellifera provides to humans as well as ecosystems. We revised the role of honey bees as pollinators in natural ecosystems to preserve and restore the local biodiversity of wild plants; in agro-ecosystems, this species is widely used to enhance crop yield and quality, meeting the increasing food demand. Beekeeping activity provides humans not only with high-quality food but also with substances used as raw materials and in pharmaceuticals, and in polluted areas, bees convey valuable information on the environmental presence of pollutants and their impact on human and ecosystem health. Finally, the role of the honey bee in symbolic tradition, mysticism, and the cultural values of the bee habitats are also presented. Overall, we suggest that the symbolic value of the honey bee is the most important role played by this insect species, as it may help revitalise and strengthen the intimate and reciprocal relationship between humans and the natural world, avoiding the inaccuracy of considering the ecosystems as mere providers of services to humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]