The Fujairah Research Centre has announced its findings from its environmental pollution project, conducted in collaboration with the Medibees program.
The two parties spearheaded an investigation into monitoring pollution mechanisms, conducting extensive monitoring and conservation activities with bees at the forefront of practices and research.
After six months of comprehensive analysis, the findings have illuminated the use of bees to detect environmental anomalies and pollutants.
This, the parties said, highlights the species’ value as a reliable indicator of environmental ecosystem health and trajectory.
In the research, the Fujairah Research Centre aimed to make breakthroughs in early environmental change detection, alongside air and water quality monitoring, pesticide impact assessments, and soil and water contamination assessments.
This involved analysing bees for pesticide residues, waterborne pollutants, and heavy metal concentrations and monitoring bee populations to identify potential signals of ecosystem disruption and pollution-related instigators.
The centre said that using bees for pollution monitoring offers a cost-effective and efficient method to gather data on pollution distribution over large geographic areas, assisting researchers in understanding the movement and dispersion of pollutants in the environment.
Commenting on the findings, Dr. James Aruda, Head of Honeybee Research at the Fujairah Research Centre, said: “Bees are universally acknowledged as essential to life as we know it – without them, the planet’s ecosystem would ultimately collapse as they are the world’s most important group of pollinators. However, this project has used g bees to monitor pollution based on their natural foraging behavior and ability to collect environmental samples over large areas. Bees have a wide foraging range and are known to travel several kilometers from their hive in search of nectar and pollen.”
Engr. Khawla Al Yammahi, Honeybee Researcher, added: “We’ve discovered that bees’ significance extends far beyond agricultural production and natural ecosystem function – they can actually provide us with new insights into environmental health and early warnings about the direction of environmental changes. This highlights their role as indispensable assets for combating pollution and promoting sustainability, which are objectives for every community, government, and nation.”
According to the Fujairah Research Centre, such cases provide “indisputable evidence” that bees can contribute to significant improvements in biosecurity, environmental preservation, and related legislation and policy.