Particulate Matter Contamination of Bee Pollen in an Industrial Area of the Po Valley (Italy)

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This paper describes the analysis contaminating PM on of bee pollen using SEM/EDX. The bees carrying pollen were collected from a natural and an anthropogenically polluted site (peri-urban area of Parma). From the natural site the pollen contained mainly PM consisting of natural origins like clay mineral, calcite, feldspars and quartz, while form the site close to Parma pollen contained PMs of more diverse composition, which could be connected to traffic related or incinerator-related sources. The study is original, interesting and the results are clearly described.

The discussion is very well structured and relates the composition of the PM on the pollen to possible sources.

In lines 235 the relation with the former study is mentioned. It would be interesting to add here a more extended comparison between the PM collected on the wings of the bees (where static electricity of the bee body is relevant as explained in the former paper) and the PM collected on the pollen carried by the bees. Are there differences in de PMs that are found in both studies? Would it be interesting to study the pollen directly from the flower? Is the contamination with PMs already present on pollen from the flower?

Specific comments.

• Line 100: what does the remark “(total number of pollen grains =40)‘ refer to? Are 40 pollen form each bee leg studied?
• Lines 143-`146. Please check the legend. ( e) shows most likely Taraxacum pollen and the legend mentions Medicago sativa and Brassicacea . Furthermore the legend for (f) is missing.
• Figure 5 b: what do we see here? Please explain the structure. Maybe an arrow could help
• Figure 6.a,b. The gold particles seem to be present in between 2 large corn pollen. Where does it stick too? A little more explanation could help

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

1. This is an interesting study that provides scientific evidence that sources of pollution may have entered bee pollen through airborne particulates.
2. Table 1 is the most important data for this study and is recommended for rewrite. The table title should be placed at the top of the table. Add a column to represent the sources of the various PM. The data in the table should be expressed as the PMs detected ratio of samples.
3. For other minor amendments, please refer as below:
4. line 37, delete [4,5]..
5. Line 43, PM_0.1
6. Line 55, PM₁₀ and PM_2.5
7. Line 145, Figure 3, (f) missing

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.docx