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<h2 class="slug" style="background: transparent; border: 0px;
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uppercase; position: relative; color: rgb(109, 146, 48);">SCIENCE</h2>
<h1 class="headline featured_image_headline" style="background:
transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 30px; margin: 0px; outline:
0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: 700;
color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Researchers use bees to study airborne
microplastics</h1>
<section class="byline" style="background: transparent; border:
0px; font-size: 12px; margin: 0.25em 0px 0px; outline: 0px;
padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; display: block; color:
rgb(85, 85, 85); font-weight: 700;"><span class="authors"
style="background: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 12px;
margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align:
baseline;"><a
href="https://www.eenews.net/staff/Jacob_Wallace"
style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 12px;
vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; color:
rgb(85, 85, 85); text-decoration: none;">Jacob Wallace</a>,
E&E News reporter</span><time style="background:
transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px;
outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;
font-weight: 400; font-style: normal;">Published: Thursday,
March 25, 2021</time></section>
<aside class="ImageAsset image_asset_layout span24 left"
id="image_asset_layout_98043" style="background: transparent;
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<p class="caption" style="background: transparent; border: 0px;
font-size: 12px; margin: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;
vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><span
style="background: transparent; border: 0px; font-size:
12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;
vertical-align: baseline;">Researchers in Spain measured
microplastics on European honeybees, which collect
pollutants as they interact with the environment in their
foraging range.<span> </span></span><span class="credit"
style="background: transparent; border: 0px; font-size:
11px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;
vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(153, 153, 153);">CSIRO/Wikimedia
Commons</span></p>
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<section class="StoryContent span16" style="background: rgb(255,
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<p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 14px;
margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align:
baseline;">A team of researchers based in Spain are attempting
to measure the microplastics in the air by examining how many
pieces are inadvertently collected by bees and stuck to their
wings, legs and bodies.</p>
<p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 14px;
margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align:
baseline;">In a<span> </span><a
href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969720380128"
style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 14px;
vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; color:
rgb(153, 0, 0); text-decoration: underline; font-weight:
700;">study</a><span> </span>published in the journal<span> </span><em
style="background: transparent; border: 0px; font-size:
14px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;
vertical-align: baseline;">Science of the Total Environment</em>,
researchers described working with the Danish Beekeepers
Association to collect bees from urban, semirural and rural
areas in and around Copenhagen. They then measured the amounts
of microplastics found on the bees.</p>
<p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 14px;
margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align:
baseline;">Roberto Rosal García, a researcher from the
University of Alcalá in Spain who worked on the study, said
bees can help researchers study the tiny fragments of plastic
that float through the air and in the atmosphere, which are
generally hard to measure.</p>
<p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 14px;
margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align:
baseline;">The synthetic fibers the researchers found on the
bees were thinner than a human hair. García said studying how
those minuscule plastics spread can help scientists better
understand how ubiquitous plastic really is in the environment
around us.</p>
<p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 14px;
margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align:
baseline;">"Plastic pollution has become a global concern, but
as a relatively novel issue, there are important aspects
poorly known," García said in an email.</p>
<aside class="ImageAsset image_asset_layout span8 right"
id="image_asset_layout_98041" style="background: transparent;
border: 0px; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 20px 20px;
outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; display:
block; box-sizing: border-box; float: right; max-width: 300px;
width: 300px; position: relative;"><img
src="https://www.eenews.net/image_assets/2021/03/image_asset_113107.jpg"
alt="Microplastics on bees. Photo credit: Rosal García
Roberto" style="background: transparent; border: 1px solid
rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; outline:
0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing:
border-box; width: 300px;">
<p class="caption" style="background: transparent; border:
0px; font-size: 12px; margin: 3px 2px; outline: 0px;
padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(102, 102,
102);"><span style="background: transparent; border: 0px;
font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;
vertical-align: baseline;">Microplastics were found in
several parts of the bees' bodies.<span> </span></span><span
class="credit" style="background: transparent; border:
0px; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding:
0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(153, 153, 153);">Rosal
García Roberto</span></p>
</aside>
<p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 14px;
margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align:
baseline;">"The quantification of their origin and emissions;
their environmental fate, mainly due to aging and
fragmentation processes; and their effects to human health and
to environmental organisms are important aspects that need
research to be clarified," he added.</p>
<p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 14px;
margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align:
baseline;">The amount of microplastics gathered by bees didn't
change much depending on whether they were collected from a
city or rural location in Denmark. Researchers said the
relative similarity could be explained by a couple of factors:
the long ranges of bees attached to rural or suburban hives
that could take them into densely populated areas with more
plastic, and wind carrying microplastics away from population
centers.</p>
<p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 14px;
margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align:
baseline;">García said the next step in this research will be
to develop a way to monitor microplastics in beehives.
Beehives are an ideal study subject because tens of thousands
of female worker bees live in a single colony and their
foraging range extends for several miles. Those bees bring
environmental contaminants back to the hive, where they can be
measured.</p>
<p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 14px;
margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align:
baseline;">Researchers have already<span> </span><a
href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-019-0243-0"
style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 14px;
vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; color:
rgb(153, 0, 0); text-decoration: underline; font-weight:
700;">established</a><span> </span>that beehives can be used
to track atmospheric pollutants like lead, zinc and copper.</p>
<p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 14px;
margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align:
baseline;">Some of the researchers who participated in the
study had previously developed a tool called APIStrip, which
collects pesticides from beehives while minimally disturbing
the bees. A<span> </span><a
href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969720324657"
style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 14px;
vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; color:
rgb(153, 0, 0); text-decoration: underline; font-weight:
700;">trial run</a><span> </span>of the strips took place in
nine countries in Europe last year.</p>
<p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 14px;
margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align:
baseline;">Microplastics are near-ubiquitous on Earth and have
been found in some of the most remote places on the planet.
Researchers are increasingly exploring the health effects of
the tiny plastic bits, which can break down so small that they
may be able to accumulate in human tissue.</p>
<p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 14px;
margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align:
baseline;">A<span> </span><a
href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7362455/"
style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 14px;
vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; color:
rgb(153, 0, 0); text-decoration: underline; font-weight:
700;">review</a><span> </span>of such studies in 2020 found
that there is still scant research on how humans are affected
by microplastics — and even smaller nanoplastics — but
acknowledged early research shows they may cause endocrine
disruption, as well as carry other toxic effects.</p>
<p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 14px;
margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align:
baseline;">García said his research is an important part of
tracking down plastic pollution and uncovering any potential
concerns for human health.</p>
<p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 14px;
margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align:
baseline;">"Some people say that there is no reason to worry
as we are not seeing anybody dying of plastic overdose, but it
has to be recalled that it took almost 300 years to establish
the negative consequences of tobacco and this topic has only
been intensely researched for the last few years," García
said.</p>
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