Physiological markers and trace elements in honey bees residing phosphogypsum deposition site: Field and laboratory scenario

Phosphogypsum (PG) stacks are a fine powdery, inevitable by-product of mineral fertilizer production, with still largely underexplored impacts on environmental health. Stabile and low-radioactive trace elements present in PG have the potential to adversely affect biota. Honey bees are recognized as effective bioindicators of local airborne particulate matter containing trace elements in post-mining, industrial, and urban environments. This pilot study aimed to investigate sublethal effects of PG on honey bee foragers under field conditions at the Kutina PG deposition site in Croatia (with two control sites, 6 and 14 km away from the PG stack) and in laboratory settings (0-1600 mg/L of PG in sucrose solution). Laboratory exposure was additionally used to identify the most suitable proxy among 22 analysed elements, which was then applied to assess the significance of field PG emissions on trace element levels in bees. PG exposure did not affect survival or feeding rate in laboratory conditions. However, bees showed reduced glutathione S-transferase activity under laboratory exposure and decreased acetylcholinesterase activity in field experiments. Uranium and vanadium emerged as reliable proxies for evaluating PG exposure in honey bees. While larger and more detailed studies are recommended to confirm these findings, this study demonstrates a relatively simple, globally applicable, and cost-effective approach for monitoring biota and assessing their health in industrial areas, using honey bees as sentinel species.