Data and code from: Eusocial bee species are exposed to different toxic element profiles despite foraging within the same landscape
Data files
May 29, 2026 version files 70.02 KB
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BAF_C.csv
38.36 KB
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Clean.comp.4.26.R
14.37 KB
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README.md
2.41 KB
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SPA.equal.csv
14.87 KB
Abstract
Bees encounter trace metals while foraging, as metal contamination is widespread across landscapes. The extent of this exposure varies both by environmental context and species-specific foraging behaviours. This study examined metal exposure in two social bee species, Bombus terrestris and Apis mellifera, within low-contamination landscapes to assess whether they experience similar exposure levels when foraging in the same area. B. terrestris colonies were deployed within honey bee apiaries in Cambridgeshire, UK, a region with relatively low soil metal contamination. Pollen samples were collected using species-specific pollen traps, and metal concentrations in both pollen and bee bodies were analysed. Despite their proximity, within 50 meters of each other, B. terrestris and A. mellifera collected pollen with significantly different metal concentrations. Notably, bumblebees gathered pollen with 2-7x higher concentrations of certain metals compared to honey bees, and at levels that overlap with concentrations known to cause sublethal impacts. Bumble bee bodies also contained significantly greater metal loads. These findings suggest that metal exposure remains a concern even in low-contamination landscapes and that social bee species do not experience uniform risk. This study adds to increasing evidence that honey bees are not reliable proxies for assessing environmental toxicant exposure in other bee species.
Data was collected for metal content in honey bee and bumble bee collected pollen, and adult bee loads. Samples were collected for each study location, and pollen samples were collected three times over the study period.
Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.0cfxpnwfn
Description of the data and file structure
Bumble bee and honey bee collected pollen and adult bee samples were collected to compare metal exposure between species within the same landscape. Samples were collected from July to August 2023 from 12 locations in the Cambridgeshire region in the UK. Samples were analyzed using Inductively Coupled Plasma- Mass Spectroscopy to measure metal content.
Files and variables
File: Clean.comp.4.26.R
Description: R code for data analysis
File: BAF_C.csv
Description: Dataset containing metal concentration data collected for each species pollen and adults, by location.
Variables
- sample_ID: Individual sample name
- Stage: sample type (adult bees, pollen)
- Species: bee species- honey bee or bumblebee (for pollen), commercial, wild, honey bee for bee
- Status: commercial, wild, honeybee
- Bee: bee species (honey bee or bumble bee)
- Status.stage:
- Location: anonymized location name
- Metal: test metal (As, Cd, Co, Cr, Pb, or Sn)
- ppb: measured metal concentration (in ppb)
File: SPA.equal.csv
Description: Dataset used for SEM analysis with data from adult body metal concentrations, pollen concentrations, and soil concentrations formatted for SEM data analysis.
Variables
- Location: anonymized location name
- Type: bee species )honey bee or bumble bee)
- Metal: test metal (As, Cd, Co, Cr, Pb, or Sn)
- Unit: metal concentration unit (ppb)
- Pollen.conc: measured metal concentration in pollen (in ppb)
- adult.conc: measured metal concentration in adult bee material (honey bee and bumble bee)
- soil.conc: soil metal concentrations measured by the UKSO (https://mapapps2.bgs.ac.uk/ukso/home.html)
Code/software
We used RStudio for all data analysis. All libraries, code, and packages used to run the file is in the Rcode document.
Access information
Other publicly accessible locations of the data:
- N/A
Data was derived from the following sources:
- Soil metal concentrations were derived from: https://mapapps2.bgs.ac.uk/ukso/home.html