Heavy metal pollution from a shooting range revealed by honeybees

Heavy metal pollution from a shooting range revealed by honeybees | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Heavy metal pollution from a shooting range revealed by honeybees Vivian Leuenberger, Juanita Rausch, David Jaramillo, Christoph Neururer, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7601243/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 29 Nov, 2025 Read the published version in Environmental Monitoring and Assessment → Version 1 posted 14 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Honey bees ( Apis mellifera L.) have been established as environmental monitors to assess the aerosol contamination of the environment in the vicinity of beehives. During their wide-ranging foraging trips, these hymenopterans catch particles in-flight and while collecting nectar. In the present work, we demonstrate that bees can not only be used to detect large particulate matter emitters, such as mines or industrial plants, but also small aerosol sources such as shooting ranges. During a background monitoring of particle matter pollution, worker bees were collected from hives located in the rural part of the canton and the city of Fribourg (Switzerland). The head, wings, and hind legs of the bees were investigated with Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled with X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX). The analyzed particles reflect the vigorous dairy farming activity in the region (home of Gruyère cheese making), but bees from one beehive had very exotic particles, which turned out to be typical of gunshot residues. Indeed, a shooting range was in the roaming territory of the corresponding beehive. Bees, therefore, could be an ideal tool not only for monitoring significant aerosol sources, but also small ones. honey bees aerosol biomonitoring heavy metal computer controlled scanning electron microscopy (CCSEM) Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 29 Nov, 2025 Read the published version in Environmental Monitoring and Assessment → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 07 Oct, 2025 Reviews received at journal 07 Oct, 2025 Reviews received at journal 06 Oct, 2025 Reviews received at journal 05 Oct, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 01 Oct, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 30 Sep, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 29 Sep, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 27 Sep, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 25 Sep, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 25 Sep, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 25 Sep, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 23 Sep, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 23 Sep, 2025 First submitted to journal 12 Sep, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7601243","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":526008623,"identity":"2057b485-135a-4e81-b4ea-fbe2ad396440","order_by":0,"name":"Vivian Leuenberger","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Fribourg","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Vivian","middleName":"","lastName":"Leuenberger","suffix":""},{"id":526008625,"identity":"0214587b-6643-407a-9f47-ddf7fb8d3797","order_by":1,"name":"Juanita Rausch","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of 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honeybees","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"environmental-monitoring-and-assessment","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"emas","sideBox":"Learn more about [Environmental Monitoring and Assessment](http://link.springer.com/journal/10661)","snPcode":"10661","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/10661/3","title":"Environmental Monitoring and Assessment","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"honey bees, aerosol, biomonitoring, heavy metal, computer controlled scanning electron microscopy (CCSEM)","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7601243/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7601243/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eHoney bees (\u003cem\u003eApis mellifera\u003c/em\u003e L.) have been established as environmental monitors to assess the aerosol contamination of the environment in the vicinity of beehives. During their wide-ranging foraging trips, these hymenopterans catch particles in-flight and while collecting nectar. In the present work, we demonstrate that bees can not only be used to detect large particulate matter emitters, such as mines or industrial plants, but also small aerosol sources such as shooting ranges. During a background monitoring of particle matter pollution, worker bees were collected from hives located in the rural part of the canton and the city of Fribourg (Switzerland). The head, wings, and hind legs of the bees were investigated with Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled with X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX). The analyzed particles reflect the vigorous dairy farming activity in the region (home of Gruy\u0026egrave;re cheese making), but bees from one beehive had very exotic particles, which turned out to be typical of gunshot residues. Indeed, a shooting range was in the roaming territory of the corresponding beehive. Bees, therefore, could be an ideal tool not only for monitoring significant aerosol sources, but also small ones.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Heavy metal pollution from a shooting range revealed by honeybees","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-10-09 18:26:15","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7601243/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2025-10-07T13:48:53+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-10-07T08:43:38+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-10-06T05:43:37+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-10-06T00:24:42+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"35511630969444486503800906172076468129","date":"2025-10-01T05:58:53+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"22920429582037566493790927647067227834","date":"2025-09-30T17:08:57+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"7025459954299738577352255360630951878","date":"2025-09-29T06:46:29+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"336538028632802211362902338420467838707","date":"2025-09-27T08:01:11+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"222196047369499253220465364461209437967","date":"2025-09-25T16:34:51+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"302833568970121037697765629885886667155","date":"2025-09-25T15:01:06+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2025-09-25T14:39:16+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2025-09-23T10:30:31+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2025-09-23T10:29:55+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Environmental Monitoring and Assessment","date":"2025-09-12T13:37:58+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"environmental-monitoring-and-assessment","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"emas","sideBox":"Learn more about [Environmental Monitoring and Assessment](http://link.springer.com/journal/10661)","snPcode":"10661","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/10661/3","title":"Environmental Monitoring and Assessment","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"b5faa421-d68e-4069-bcaa-5ffc97e9521d","owner":[],"postedDate":"October 9th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-12-01T16:03:48+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-7601243","link":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-025-14807-8","journal":{"identity":"environmental-monitoring-and-assessment","isVorOnly":false,"title":"Environmental Monitoring and Assessment"},"publishedOn":"2025-11-29 15:58:17","publishedOnDateReadable":"November 29th, 2025"},"versionCreatedAt":"2025-10-09 18:26:15","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1007/s10661-025-14807-8","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-025-14807-8","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7601243","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7601243","identity":"rs-7601243","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}