the biosphere (Wolterbeek, 2002). The relevant information in bio-
monitoring is commonly deduced from either changes in the
behavior of the monitored organism or from the concentration of
specific substances in the tissues of the monitored organism. The
quantitative information may be defined as a measure of inte-
grated exposure of exposed organisms/materials over a certain
amount of time (Smodiš and Bleise, 2002). Honey bees readily fly
up to 4 km in all directions from their apiary and thus have access
to an area of about 50 km2
. They therefore represent an excellent
system of small samplers (Hoopingarner and Waller, 1993).
The possibility of using honeybees as bioindicators of environ-
mental pollution takes advantage of the large areas that they can
cover where they live, and the detection of the presence of many
contaminants in their ambient environment. While mechanical
instruments give more precise values, honeybees and their prod-
ucts provide data over the full area that they cover during foraging.
According to Wolterbeek (2002), the relative ease of sampling, the
absence of any need for complicated and expensive technical