Figure 2.

Post-treatment changes in lithium concentration in hive products and bees. Linear mixed model analysis (LMM) revealed a significant increase in Li concentrations (mean ± SD) in bee head (a), thorax and abdomen (b), and leg (c), as well as in honey (d) between 1 and 8 days after LiCl treatment, followed by a return of concentrations to the control level after 16 days post-treatment. Only a small increase in Li concentration was revealed in bee bread (e), and only on the 4th day post-treatment, and no increase in Li concentration at all was detected in hive debris (f) or beeswax (g). For LMM statistics, see Table 2. Plotted values not sharing any index letter are statistically different at p < 0.05 (Tukey HSD post hoc test). Note that the threshold of detecting Li was 0.0003 mg kg⁻¹.