FEATURES OF THE ACCUMULATION OF HEAVY METALS AND VARIOUS FORMS OF FATTY ACIDS IN THE TISSUES OF THE ABDOMEN AND THE HONEY PRODUCTIVITY OF BEES DEPENDING ON THE ECOLOGICAL STATE OF THE ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

The article shows that experimental apiaries of clinically healthy honey bees of the Carpathian breed were selected on the basis of private apiary farms in the mountain, foothill and forest-steppe zones of the Lviv region. In order to assess the intensity of man-made load on the environment where experimental bee apiaries are located, the content of heavy metals, including toxic ones, was determined in the topsoil, bee pollen and abdominal tissues of honey bees. It was recorded that in the abdominal tissues of honey bees of the foothills and forest-steppe zones, compared to the mountain zone, at the beginning of the summer period, there is a higher total content of the studied heavy metals. At the same time, in the tissues of the abdomen of honey bees of the foothills and forest-steppe zones, compared to the conditionally clean mountain environment, there is a higher level of dangerous elements of the first toxicity class – Lead and Cadmium. There is also a noticeable higher concentration of the element of the second class of toxicity – Chromium. Abdomen tissues of honey bees of the mountain zone at the end of the summer period, compared to before its beginning, accumulate a small total amount of heavy metals, while the tissues of honey bees of the foothill zone have a larger amount, and the tissues of bees of the forest-steppe zone have the largest amount. In the direction from the mountain to the foothills and further to the forest-steppe zone of the Carpathian region, in the abdominal tissues of honeybees, there is a decrease in the content of esterified and non-esterified forms of fatty acids, but an increase in anionic ones. The level of accumulation of esterified, non-esterified and anionic forms of fatty acids in the abdominal tissues of honey bees kept in hives located in the mountainous zone of the Carpathian region, compared to the tissues of bees kept in apiaries located in the foothills and especially forest-steppe zones, during the summer period is higher The honey productivity of worker bees per beehive per season in the foothills and especially in the forest-steppe zones of the Carpathian region is lower, compared to the mountains. Abdominal tissue of honey bees can serve as a bioindicator of the ecological state of the environment in terms of the content of heavy metals and various forms of fatty acids