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The honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) has been used in several studies for monitoring the environmental health status in terms of pollution, due to its wide-ranging foraging flights. Based on this consideration, this study aimed to analyze heavy metal pollution in Molise Region (Italy), by investigating five sites characterized by different levels of contamination. Furthermore, the authors carried out a sampling activity for a long period, in order to obtain a complete dataset. In this way, detailed information about the status of the environments was able to be obtained. The main purpose of this work was to assess the health status of Molise Region and to confirm the suitability of honeybees as environmental bioindicators of heavy metal pollution, by analyzing their variability over time and space. Furthermore, the study compared the health status associated with contamination in terms of heavy metals with that in two different areas of Italy, using hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis, to evaluate the correlation existing among the three different areas of Italy. Following the findings, the authors suggest the use of honeybees as a bioindicator for heavy metal pollution in air quality studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phytoplasmas, microorganisms associated with severe plant diseases, are obligate parasites transmitted by phloem-feeding insects. Cacopsylla melanoneura and Cacopsylla picta are involved in the transmission of 'Candidatus Phytoplasma mali,' the etiological agent of apple proliferation (AP) disease. Research conducted in different geographic regions showed different transmission efficiencies for the two psyllids. In this study, acquisition and transmission trials were carried out to investigate the role of different life stages of these vectors in the epidemiology of AP after a sudden outbreak in northeastern Italy. Both species resulted able to acquire 'Ca. P. mali,' with higher infection rates recorded in C. picta. F1 generations showed a higher acquisition ability compared to adults in both species. 'Ca. P. mali' transmission was successful: Up to 1.5% of test plants were infected in trials with C. melanoneura and up to 10.2% in trials with C. picta. Overwintered adults of C. melanoneura showed a lower vectoring ability compared to C. picta. F1 nymphs and F1 adults, developed on infected plants, resulted in being competent vectors. Data on phytoplasma acquisition suggest a different relationship of 'Ca. P. mali' with the two species, evidencing a stronger affinity with C. picta. Moreover, taking into account the different factors influencing AP transmission, the probability of infection is mainly influenced by the presence of F1 nymphs and the phytoplasma load. In conclusion, this study evidences that C. picta is the most effective AP vector in the studied area, even if C. melanoneura can represent a potential risk in the presence of high inoculum sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Determination of 22 PAHs in honey samples by DLLME-GC–MS. • Chemometric approach for identifying the main PAHs responsible of contamination. • Comparison with similar database for evidencing the contamination sources. • Chemometrics for tracing the food quality based on the production area. The quality of honey is assessed through the determination of some commodity parameters: a certain importance is to be attributed to the absence of contaminating residues, in particular of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs). This paper deeply investigates the presence of 22 PAHs in 57 honey samples collected in Central Italy and identifies the possible source apportionment and fingerprint identification by DLLME-GC–MS analysis and a chemometric approach. Cluster Analysis and Principal Component Analysis have allowed to identify the main PAHs responsible of the contamination, benzo[ a ]anthracene and phenanthrene, characteristics pollutants of areas constantly exposed. The entire database has been compared to similar ones present in literature, particularly data from Serbia and Belgrado samples. The PCA applied to overall the data confirms the combustion to be the main contamination source in Italian samples whereas highlights the importance of the role of naphthalene, added during beekeeping practices in the other data-set. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]