title: Honeybees and honey as monitors for heavy metal contamination near thermal power plants in Mugla, Turkey.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey sibelsilici@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Sibel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Silici
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Arts, Gaziosmanpasa University, Tokat, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ozgur Dogan
authors.initials: OD
authors.lastname: Uluozlu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Arts, Gaziosmanpasa University, Tokat, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tuzen
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Soylak
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000737:chemistry*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D006722:Honey / Q000032:analysis*; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis*; D011210:Power Plants; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic; D014421:Turkey
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D019216:Metals, Heavy
keywords: Trace element; atomic absorption spectrometry; honey; honeybee; microwave digestion; thermal power plants