Assessing Heavy Metal Contamination in District Kasur, Pakistan, Using Honey Bees (Apis mellifera) as Bioindicators for Ecological and Food Safety Monitoring

Hanif, Tayyaba; Ejaz, Muhammad; Manzoor, Farkhanda; Sajid, Muhammad Zareef

doi:10.48311/ecopersia.2026.120190.82892

Assessing Heavy Metal Contamination in District Kasur, Pakistan, Using Honey Bees (Apis mellifera) as Bioindicators for Ecological and Food Safety Monitoring

Document Type : Original Research

Authors

Tayyaba Hanif ¹

Muhammad Ejaz ¹

Farkhanda Manzoor ²

Muhammad Zareef Sajid ³

¹ School of Zoology, Faculty of Basic Science and Mathematics, Minhaj University Lahore, Pakistan

² Head of Department, School of Zoology, Faculty of Basic Science and Mathematics, Minhaj University Lahore, Pakistan

³ School of Science, Western Sydney University, Sydney, Australia

10.48311/ecopersia.2026.120190.82892

Abstract

Aims: This study aimed to assess the honey bee (Apis mellifera) as a bioindicator of heavy metal contamination in District Kasur, Punjab, Pakistan, for ecological monitoring and food safety.
Materials & Methods: Fresh honey samples were collected from beehives during the summer season in the morning to minimize external metal contamination. Samples were collected from five sites representing different pollution levels, including a forest area located far from tanneries (Changa Manga Jungle, 88 km from the control site and 56 km from Kasur tanneries), a low-pollution area (Village Ganda Singh Border, 75 km from the control site and 16 km from Kasur tanneries), a slightly polluted area (Raiwind Road, 42 km from the control site and 15 km from Kasur tanneries), a moderately polluted area (Village Sehjra, 84 km from the control site and 27 km from Kasur tanneries), and a control site (Lahore Jallo Park, 62 km from Kasur tanneries). We collected 12 individual samples from each site, for a total of 60 experimental samples. We used a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with five treatments. Heavy metal concentrations were quantified in mg.kg⁻¹ using a Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (FAAS).
Findings: Results showed that the highest Cu content was recorded in samples collected from Village Sehjra (11.46 mg.kg⁻¹); on the other hand, the lowest amount was determined in the forest area (0.09 mg.kg⁻¹). Fe expressed the highest contents overall, reaching 15.23 mg.kg⁻¹ in the control site (Jallo Park, Lahore), whereas higher amounts were also observed in Village Sehjra (14.12 mg.kg⁻¹). Somewhat, high Fe concentration at the control site may reflect background geological characteristics and urban environmental influences rather than direct industrial emissions.
Conclusion: These findings highlight the impact of environmental pollution on heavy-metal bioaccumulation in honey. The results show that honey bees serve as a good bioindicator for assessing environmental quality and ensuring food safety.

Keywords

Bioindicator

Environmental Monitoring

Environmental Pollution

Heavy Metals

Subjects

Ecosystem Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

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