Honey as a bioindicator for environmental pollution with SO₂

Abstract - Honey was proven to be a highly sensitive bioindicator for estimation of the environmental pollution with SO₂. A bee monitoring net consisting of 32 apiaries and covering an area of about 700 km² was configured surrounding the Sostanj coal-fired power plant. The results of investigations revealed that the amount of sulphate determined in honey from this area correlated with total yearly emissions of SO₂ observed by an electronic monitoring. When exhaust gases at the power plant were purified, a corresponding decrease in the amounts of sulphate in honey was observed. The proposed bee monitoring net is an example of using biomonitoring for tracing environmental pollution, which could be also applied to estimate the impact of NO_x gases or to trace other pollutants.