Biosurveillance environnementale par l’abeille mellifère (Apis mellifera Linnaeus, 1758) : évaluation de la contamination des milieux terrestres par les pesticides en Martinique

Thanks to its physiological and biological features honeybee (Apis mellifera Linnaeus, 1758) is known as biomonitor for detecting and monitoring environmental pollution. APISentinelle project aimed to assess pesticide contaminations of terrestrial ecosystems through sentinel apiaries in Martinique. Pesticides were searched in hives placed in three landscape contexts: urban, agricultural and natural environments. Four apicultural matrices (beewax, honey, pollen and foraging bees) were collected following specific protocols. Multiresidue analyses and specific monoresidus (glyphosate and chlordecone) were performed on each matrice for searching of a wide variety of compounds. Residues of 10 compounds were found in samples. In 76 % of samples one of these residues was at least detected. Thiabendazole (49 %), glyphosate (43 %) and propargite (16 %) are the most frequently occurring residues. No residues of chlordecone were detected in samples analyzed. Glyphosate only was found in all honey samples collected in agricultural area. Comparison of the quantified values with the maximum residue limits (MRLs) reveals a high level of exceedance of these MRLs in pollen for thiabendazole (43%) and glyphosate (29 %). Honeybee biomonitoring system used in our studying revealed a chronic environmental contamination by glyphosate and fungicides detected locally by the systems of water quality monitoring.