Overview
Zajdel and colleagues placed Osmia bicornis trap nests at 27 sites in orchards, berry plantations and urban areas of Lowicz district and measured eight metals by flame AAS in nest pollen and bees. Metal levels in pollen did not differ significantly between habitat types. Habitat means are printed in the text; the full data are shown only in Figure 2.
Key numbers
- Pollen lead means: berry plantations 0.42, orchards 0.27, urban 0.35 mg/kg (Section 3.2, text).
- Pollen cadmium habitat averages 0.06 to 0.07 mg/kg; lowest 0.04 mg/kg (berry), highest 0.10 mg/kg (urban housing estate) (Section 3.2).
- Pollen nickel means 1.75 to 1.81 mg/kg, single-site range 0.27 to 6.39 mg/kg (Section 3.2).
Methods (brief)
Pollen from about 10 brood cells per tube and three to four tubes per nest was pooled per site, dried to constant weight and digested with nitric acid in a microwave system. Flame AAS in triplicate; IAEA-336 and BCR CRM 482 used for verification (recoveries not reported); LOD printed as 1 ppb.
Evidence Fitness
This is solitary-bee nest provision pollen used for biomonitoring, not harvested honey bee pollen, so it is a proxy for bee-pollen and is not linked to that page. Values are dry weight, one pooled sample per site, and most per-habitat statistics are figure-only. The text’s element ranking (cadmium above copper) contradicts its own numbers.