Biological bee-based bioindication of environmental pollution of cultivated areas and pastures

In modern agroecology, well-known methods of environmental monitoring are characterized by high costs for equipment, installation and maintenance, and cover only a small part of the measurements. Based on this consideration, the attention of environmentalists is focused on bioindication. Therefore, the use of honey bees in agroecology is expanding to bioindicate environmental changes and ensure the sustainability of agricultural ecosystems. The aim is to evaluate the possibility of using bees for bioindication of environmental pollution with heavy metals of cultivated areas and pastures used for human food production near major federal high-ways. The coefficient of transition of heavy metals in agrobiocenoses from soil to honey plants Fe was highest in the Rostov region, which is 0.02 more than the Voronezh region, 0.07 more than the Lugansk region, 0.1 more (P < 0.05) Belgorod region and 0.13 more (P < 0.05) than in the Kursk region. Nickel had the highest rate of ingestion of heavy metals into honey in agrobiocenoses, the highest conversion rate (2.1) to honey was established in the Voronezh Region, and the lowest conversion rate (0.19) was observed in the Belgorod region. The highest conversion coefficient (0.111) of lead to honey was found in agrobiocenoses of the Luhansk region. The highest conversion coefficient (0.254) of zinc to honey was observed in agrobiocenoses of the Rostov region. The intensity of copper ingestion (0.146) into honey was the highest in the Belgorod region. The conversion coefficients of cadmium and iron to honey were the lowest and ranged from 0.005 to 0.021 for cadmium and from 0.005 to 0.015 for iron.