New and Improved Methods for Monitoring Air Quality and the Terrestrial Environment

摘要

Honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) are multi-media monitors of chemical exposures and biotic effects. This six-year project has developed an automated system to assess in real-time colony behavioral responses to stressors, both anthropogenic and natural, including inclement weather. It also addressed chemical exposures by measuring the concentrations of volatile and semi-Volatile organic chemicals in ambient air and the air inside beehives, persistent pesticides and PCBs in bees and pollen, and radionuclides in bees and pollen. The resultant chemical data set includes locations throughout the Canal Creek, Old 0 Field, Bush River, J Field, and D Field areas of APO. It also includes off-post sites positioned along transects extending into Baltimore, Harford, and Cecil counties, with additional reference/test sites at Churchville and Worten's Point on the Eastern Shore of Chesapeake Bay. This final technical report provides: (1) a statistical approach for processing honey bee population dynamics data, (2) results of calibration trials for real-time monitoring of colony flight activity, and (3) the chemical exposure/fate data in a comprehensive, searchable database for use by APG installation restoration project managers.