Particulate matter collection by honey bees (Apis mellifera, L.) near to a cement factory in Italy

Using honey bee colonies to monitor phenotypic and genotypic resistance to colistin

Colistin is a polymyxin antimicrobic mainly used to treat infection caused by multi-drug resistant Gram-negative bacteria. Mechanisms of colistin resistance are linked to the mobile colistin resistance (mcr) genes, which are transferable within mobile plasmids. Currently, there is limited research on the environmental dissemination of these genes. The behavioural and morphological characteristics of Apis mellifera L. make honey bees effective environmental bioindicators for assessing the prevalence of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria. This study aims to evaluate the colistin phenotypic and genotypic resistance in environmental Gram-negative bacteria isolated from foraging honey bees, across a network of 33 colonies distributed across the Emilia-Romagna region in Italy. Phenotypic resistances were determined through a microdilution assay using the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) with dilutions ranging from 0.5 μg/ml to 256 μg/ml. Strains with MIC values gather than 2 μg/ml were classified as resistant. Also, the identification of the nine mcr genes was carried out using two separate multiplex PCR assays. The study found that 68.5% of isolates were resistant and the genus with the higher resistance rates observed in Enterobacter spp. (84.5%). At least one mcr gene was found in 137 strains (53.3%). The most detected gene was mcr5 (35.3%), which was the most frequently detected gene in the seven provinces, while the least observed was mcr4 (4.8%), detected only in two provinces. These results suggested the feasibility of detecting specific colistin resistance genes in environmentally spread bacteria and understanding their distribution at the environmental level, despite their restricted clinical use. In a One-Health approach, this capability enables valuable environmental monitoring, considering the significant role of colistin in the context of public health.

Predictive statistical models for monitoring antimicrobial resistance spread in the environment using Apis mellifera (L. 1758) colonies

The rise of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the most relevant problems for human and animal health. According to One Health Approach, it is important to regulate the use of antimicrobials and monitor the spread of AMR in the environment as well. Apis mellifera (L. 1758) colonies were used as bioindicators thanks to their physical and behavioural characteristics. During their foraging flights, bees can intercept small particles, including atmospheric particulate matter, etc., and also microorganisms. To date, the antimicrobial surveillance network is limited to the sanitary level but lacks into environmental context. This study aimed to evaluate the use of A. mellifera colonies distributed throughout the Emilia-Romagna region (Italy) as indicators of environmental antimicrobial-resistant bacteria. This was performed by creating a statistical predictive model that establishes correlations between environmental characteristics and the likelihood of isolating specific bacterial genera and antimicrobial-resistant strains. A total of 608 strains were isolated and tested for susceptibility to 19 different antimicrobials. Aztreonam-resistant strains were significantly related to environments with sanitary structures, agricultural areas and wetlands, while urban areas present a higher probability of trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole-resistant strains isolation. Concerning genera, environments with sanitary structures and wetlands are significantly related to the genera Proteus spp., while the Escherichia spp. strains can be probably isolated in industrial environments. The obtained models showed maximum values of Models Accuracy and robustness (R2) of 55 % and 24 %, respectively. The results indicate the efficacy of utilizing A. mellifera colonies as valuable bioindicators for estimating the prevalence of AMR in environmentally disseminated bacteria. This survey can be considered a good basis for the development of further studies focused on monitoring both sanitary and animal pathology, creating a specific network in the environments of interest.

The use of honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) to monitor airborne particulate matter and assess health effects on pollinators

The honey bee Apis mellifera has long been recognized as an ideal bioindicator for environmental pollution. These insects are exposed to pollutants during their foraging activities, making them effective samplers of environmental contaminants, including heavy metals, pesticides, radionuclides, and volatile organic compounds. Recently, it has been demonstrated that honey bees can be a valuable tool for monitoring and studying airborne PM pollution, a complex mixture of particles suspended in the air, known to have detrimental effects on human health. Airborne particles attached to the bees can be characterised for their morphology, size, and chemical composition using a scanning electron microscopy coupled with X-ray spectroscopy, thus providing key information on the emission sources of the particles, their environmental fate, and the potential to elicit inflammatory injury, oxidative damage, and other health effects in living organisms. Here, we present a comprehensive summary of the studies involving the use of honey bees to monitor airborne PM, including the limits of this approach and possible perspectives. The use of honey bees as a model organism for ecotoxicological studies involving pollutant PM is also presented and discussed, further highlighting the role of the bees as a cornerstone of human, animal, and environmental health, according to the principles of the "One Health" approach.

Chemical Profile of Elements in the Stingless Bee Melipona scutellaris (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini) from Sites with Distinct Anthropogenic Activities

Stingless bees are pollinators in forests and crops that, during foraging, may be exposed to several environmental xenobiotics, including metallic elements. This study evaluated the presence of magnesium (Mg), aluminum (Al), calcium (Ca), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), arsenic (As), molybdenum (Mo), cadmium (Cd), barium (Ba), and lead (Pb) over the body surface of the stingless bee Melipona scutellaris visiting areas with different anthropogenic activity levels. The analyses were carried out using scanning electron microscopy with X-ray energy-dispersive spectroscopy (SEM/XEDS) and all tested elements were identified. Lead was the most abundant element in all samples, whereas Mn had the lowest abundance. High amounts of Cu and Zn were detected in the areas with metallurgic industries. The presence of metals on the body surface of this stingless bee varied according to the level of human activities in the studied areas.

Origin of non-exhaust PM in cities by individual analysis of particles collected by honey bees (Apis mellifera)

Urban areas present multiple challenges to scientists interested in unraveling the source, transport, and fate of airborne particulate matter (PM). Airborne PM consists of a heterogeneous mixture of particles with different sizes, morphologies, and chemical compositions. However, standard air quality stations only detect the mass concentration of PM mixtures with aerodynamic diameters ≤10 μm (PM₁₀) and/or ≤ 2.5 μm (PM_2.5). During honey bee foraging flights, airborne PM up to 10 μm in size attaches to their bodies, making them suitable for collecting spatiotemporal data on airborne PM. The individual particulate chemistry of this PM can be assessed using scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy on a sub-micrometer scale, allowing accurate identification and classification of the particles. Herein, we analyzed the PM fractions of 10-2.5 μm, 2.5-1 μm, and below 1 μm in average geometric diameter collected by bees from hives located in the city of Milan, Italy. Bees showed contamination by natural dust, originating from soil erosion and rock outcropping in the foraging area, and particles with recurrent heavy metal content, most likely attributed to vehicular braking systems and possibly tires (non-exhaust PM). Notably, approximately 80% of non-exhaust PM was ≤1 μm in size. This study provides a possible alternative strategy to apportion the finer fraction of PM in urban areas and determine citizens' exposure. Our findings may also prompt decision-makers to issue policy addressal for non-exhaust pollution, especially for the ongoing restructuring of European regulations on mobility and the shift toward electric vehicles whose contribution to PM pollution is debated.

Biomonitoring of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, heavy metals, and plasticizers residues: role of bees and honey as bioindicators of environmental contamination

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), heavy metals, and plasticizer residues are continuously released into the environment. The use of living organisms, such as Apis mellifera L. and honey, is advantageous as bioindicator of the environmental health status, instead of traditional monitoring methods, showing the ability to record spatial and temporal pollutant variations. The PAHs and heavy metal presence were determined in two sampling years (2017 and 2018) in five different locations in the Molise region (Italy), characterized by different pollution levels. During 2017, most PAHs in all samples were lower than limit of detection (LOD), while in 2018, their mean concentration in bee and honey samples was of 3 μg kg^-1 and 35 μg kg^-1, respectively. For heavy metals, lower values were detected in 2017 (Be, Cd, and V below LOD), while in 2018, the mean concentrations were higher, 138 μg kg^-1 and 69 μg kg^-1, in bees and honey, respectively. Honey has been used as indicator of the presence of phthalate esters and bisphenol A in the environment. The satisfactory results confirmed that both bees and honey are an important tool for environmental monitoring. The chemometric analysis highlighted the differences in terms of pollutant concentration and variability in the different areas, validating the suitability of these matrices as bioindicators.

Metal and Pb isotope characterization of particulates encountered by foraging honeybees in Metro Vancouver

Honeybees and their products are useful biomonitors of metal distribution in urban centres. This study investigates particulate sources that foraging honeybees encounter in Metro Vancouver. Metal concentrations and lead (Pb) isotope compositions were measured in topsoil (top 2 cm, n = 14) colocated with existing research hives and in particulate matter ≤10 μm (PM₁₀, n = 27) collected throughout Metro Vancouver (British Columbia, Canada) during honeybee foraging hours over the course of one year (2018-2019). Topsoil served as a proxy for resuspended/coarse PM and, together with PM₁₀, covered the size range of particulates collected by foraging bees both actively (pollen) and passively (dusts). Particulate matter ≤ 2.5 μm (PM_2.5, n = 7) was collected on Whistler Mountain during two transpacific events (in spring 2014) to estimate the possible effect of transpacific particulate input on the Pb isotope composition of Western Canada aerosols. Metal concentrations and Pb isotopes in topsoil and PM from this study and bees and hive products from previous studies (collected in 2014-2019) reveal similar spatial trends: there were elevated amounts of some metals associated with anthropogenic activity (e.g., Pb, Zn, Sb) and less radiogenic Pb isotope compositions in most samples collected nearer to the city centre in comparison to samples collected in more suburban or rural areas. Bees and hive products have a smoothing effect on the spatiotemporal variability of the data; metal concentrations and Pb isotope compositions vary less in hive products than in PM, presumably because bees interact with multiple environmental domains while foraging. Wildfire smoke and transpacific input are phenomena that cause measurable shifts in Pb isotope compositions of PM, but not in hive matrices. The findings highlight important considerations to make (i.e., the smoothing effect) when linking public health data and decisions with environmental data from hive products in urban centres.

Honeybees as Bioindicators of Heavy Metal Pollution in Urban and Rural Areas in the South of Italy

The honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) has been used in several studies for monitoring the environmental health status in terms of pollution, due to its wide-ranging foraging flights. Based on this consideration, this study aimed to analyze heavy metal pollution in Molise Region (Italy), by investigating five sites characterized by different levels of contamination. Furthermore, the authors carried out a sampling activity for a long period, in order to obtain a complete dataset. In this way, detailed information about the status of the environments was able to be obtained. The main purpose of this work was to assess the health status of Molise Region and to confirm the suitability of honeybees as environmental bioindicators of heavy metal pollution, by analyzing their variability over time and space. Furthermore, the study compared the health status associated with contamination in terms of heavy metals with that in two different areas of Italy, using hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis, to evaluate the correlation existing among the three different areas of Italy. Following the findings, the authors suggest the use of honeybees as a bioindicator for heavy metal pollution in air quality studies.

Rethinking the Connections between Ecosystem Services, Pollinators, Pollution, and Health: Focus on Air Pollution and Its Impacts

Ecosystems provide many services that are essential for human activities and for our well-being. Many regulation services are interconnected and are fundamental in mitigating and hindering the negative effects of several phenomena such as pollution. Pollution, in particular airborne particulate matter (PM), represents an important risk to human health. This perspective aims at providing a current framework that relates ecosystem services, regulating services, pollination, and human health, with particular regards to pollution and its impacts. A quantitative literature analysis on the topic has been adopted. The health repercussions of problems related to ecosystem services, with a focus on the effects of atmospheric particulate matter, have been highlighted in the work throughout a case study. In polluted environments, pollinators are severely exposed to airborne PM, which adheres to the insect body hairs and can be ingested through contaminated food resources, i.e., pollen and honey. This poses a serious risk for the health of pollinators with consequences on the pollination service and, ultimately, for human health.

The Honey Bee Apis mellifera: An Insect at the Interface between Human and Ecosystem Health

Simple Summary

Apis mellifera Linnaeus (1758), a honey bee, is a eusocial insect widely known for its role in pollination, an essential ecosystem service for plant biodiversity, and quality of vegetables and fruit products. In addition, honey bees and bee products are valuable bioindicators of pollutants, such as airborne particulate matter, heavy metals, and pesticides. In this review, we explore the provisioning, regulating, and cultural services provided by the honey bee, an insect at the interface between human and ecosystem health.

Abstract

The concept of ecosystem services is widely understood as the services and benefits thatecosystems provide to humans, and they have been categorised into provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural services. This article aims to provide an updated overview of the benefits that the honey bee Apis mellifera provides to humans as well as ecosystems. We revised the role of honey bees as pollinators in natural ecosystems to preserve and restore the local biodiversity of wild plants; in agro-ecosystems, this species is widely used to enhance crop yield and quality, meeting the increasing food demand. Beekeeping activity provides humans not only with high-quality food but also with substances used as raw materials and in pharmaceuticals, and in polluted areas, bees convey valuable information on the environmental presence of pollutants and their impact on human and ecosystem health. Finally, the role of the honey bee in symbolic tradition, mysticism, and the cultural values of the bee habitats are also presented. Overall, we suggest that the symbolic value of the honey bee is the most important role played by this insect species, as it may help revitalise and strengthen the intimate and reciprocal relationship between humans and the natural world, avoiding the inaccuracy of considering the ecosystems as mere providers of services to humans.

Honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) colonies as bioindicators of environmental SARS-CoV-2 occurrence

SARS-CoV-2 is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. Airflows sustain the infection spread, and in densely urbanized areas airborne particulate matters (PMs) are deemed to aggravate the viral transmission. Apis mellifera colonies are used as bioindicators as they allow environmental sampling of different nature, PMs included. This experiment demonstrates for the first time the possible use of honey bee colonies in the SARS-CoV-2 monitoring. The trial was conducted in Bologna on 18 March 2021, when the third wave of the Italian pandemic was at its peak and environmental conditions allowed high PM concentrations in the air. Sterile swabs were lined up at the hive entrance to sample the dusty material on the body of returning foragers. All of them resulted positive for the target genes of viral SARS-CoV-2 RNA. Likewise, internal samples were taken, but they resulted in no amplification of the target sequences. This experiment does not support speculations about the role of honey bees or their products in SARS-CoV-2 transmission. However, it indicates a novel use of A. mellifera colonies in the environmental detection of airborne human pathogens, at least in a densely urbanized area, deserving better understanding and possible integration with data from automatic air samplers.

Review of harmful chemical pollutants of environmental origin in honey and bee products

Honey is a natural food with many pro-health properties, which comprises a wide variety of valuable ingredients. It can also be the source of chemical contaminants of environmental origin, including POPs that can contribute to adverse health effects to human. Monitoring the degree of pollution of honey/bee products with hazardous chemicals is important from a nutraceutical point of view. In the present work, overview of recent literature data on chemical pollutants in honey/bee products originating from the environment was performed. Their MLs, MRLs and EDI were discussed. It can be concluded that huge amount of research concerned on the presence of TMs and pesticides in honey. Most of the studies have shown that honey/bee products sampled from urban and industrialized areas were more contaminated than these sampled from ecological and rural locations. More pollutants were usually detected in propolis and bee pollen than in honey. Based on their research and regulations, authors stated, that most of the toxic pollutants of environmental origin in honey/bee products are at levels that do not pose a threat to the health of the potential consumer. The greatest concern relates to pesticides and TMs, because in some research MLs in individual samples were highly exceeded.

Regional and global perspectives of honey as a record of lead in the environment

Honey from Apis mellifera is a useful and inexpensive biomonitor for mapping metal distributions in urban centers. The sampling resolution of a biomonitoring survey (e.g., city versus global scale) determines which geochemical processes are reflected in the results. This study presents Pb isotopic compositions and metal concentrations in honey from around the world, sampled at varying resolutions: honey from Canada (n = 21), the United States (n = 111), Belgium (n = 25), and New Zealand (n = 10), with additional samples from Afghanistan, Brazil, Cuba, Germany, Liberia, Taiwan, and Turkey. Honey was sampled at high resolution in two uniquely different land-use settings (New York Metro Area and the Hawaiian island of Kaua'i), at regional-scale resolution in eastern North America (including the Great Lakes region), and Pb isotopic compositions of all samples were compared on a global scale. At high sampling resolution, metal concentrations in honey reveal spatially significant concentration gradients: in New York City, metals associated with human activity and city infrastructure (e.g., Pb, Sb, Ti, V) are more concentrated in honey collected within the city compared to honey from upstate New York, and metal concentrations in honey from Kaua'i suggest polluting effects of nearby agricultural operations. At lower resolution (regional and global scales), lead isotopic compositions of honey are more useful than metal concentrations in revealing large-scale Pb processes (e.g., the enduring legacy of global leaded gasoline use throughout the twentieth century) and the continental origin of the honey. Lead isotopic compositions of honey collected from N. America (especially from the eastern USA) are more radiogenic (²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb: 1.132-1.253, ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁶Pb: 2.001-2.129) compared to European honey, and honey from New Zealand, which has the least radiogenic isotopic compositions measured in this study (²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb: 1.077-1.160, ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁶Pb: 2.090-2.187). Thus, biomonitoring using honey at different resolutions reflects differing processes and, to some extent, a honey terroir defined by the Pb isotopic composition. The data presented here provide important (and current) global context for future studies that utilize Pb isotopes in honey. Moreover, this study exhibits community science in action, as most of the honey was collected by collaborators around the world, working directly with local apiarists and hobby beekeepers.

Acute and chronic effects of Titanium dioxide (TiO2) PM1 on honey bee gut microbiota under laboratory conditions

Apis mellifera is an important provider of ecosystem services, and during flight and foraging behaviour is exposed to environmental pollutants including airborne particulate matter (PM). While exposure to insecticides, antibiotics, and herbicides may compromise bee health through alterations of the gut microbial community, no data are available on the impacts of PM on the bee microbiota. Here we tested the effects of ultrapure Titanium dioxide (TiO₂) submicrometric PM (i.e., PM₁, less than 1 µm in diameter) on the gut microbiota of adult bees. TiO₂ PM₁ is widely used as a filler and whitening agent in a range of manufactured objects, and ultrapure TiO₂ PM₁ is also a common food additive, even if it has been classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as a possible human carcinogen in Group 2B. Due to its ubiquitous use, honey bees may be severely exposed to TiO₂ ingestion through contaminated honey and pollen. Here, we demonstrated that acute and chronic oral administration of ultrapure TiO₂ PM₁ to adult bees alters the bee microbial community; therefore, airborne PM may represent a further risk factor for the honey bee health, promoting sublethal effects against the gut microbiota.

Disentangling multiple PM emission sources in the Po Valley (Italy) using honey bees

Particulate matter (PM) is a complex mixture of airborne chemical compounds commonly classified by their aerodynamic diameter. Although PM toxicity strongly depends on the morphology, chemical composition, and dimensions of particles, exposure limits set by environmental organisations only refer to the mean mass concentration of PM sampled daily or annually by monitoring stations.

In this study, we used honey bees as sensors of airborne PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 in a highly polluted area of the Po Valley, northern Italy. Honey bees are an efficient sampler of airborne PM because, during flight and foraging activities, their pubescence promotes the accumulation of electrical charge on the body surface owing to air resistance, thus enhancing airborne PM attraction. Particles attached to the body of bees are readily accessible for physico-chemical characterisation using a scanning electron microscope coupled with X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDX). Our results demonstrate that residents in the study area are intermittently but chronically exposed to a well-defined spectrum of metal-bearing particles and mineral phases known to induce specific health outcomes.

The morphology, size, and chemical composition of PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 detected on bees in the monitoring area were indicative of traffic, agricultural operations, and high-temperature combustion processes. The contribution of the A1 Milano-Bologna highway, local wheat and alfalfa cultivation, and the Parma incineration plant were clearly distinguishable. Our data also demonstrated that PM exposure levels may vary sharply throughout the year based on recurrent local activities.

Engineering, Durability, and Sustainability Properties Analysis of High-Volume, PCC Ash-Based Concrete

This study aims to analyze the engineering properties and durability of binary blended concrete incorporating pulverized coal combustion ash (PCC ash) produced in local areas and assesses the sustainability. For this, tests and evaluations were carried out under conditions in which the unit binder weight and unit water weight were fixed at 330 and 175 kg/m3, respectively, while the replacement ratio of PCC ash increased from 0% to 70% at 10% intervals. The results showed that the replacement ratio of PCC ash should be less than 38.9% in order to secure the target compressive strength (fck = 24 MPa) at the age of 28 days in field application. The durability test found that as the replacement ratio of PCC ash increased, the carbonation depth and relative dynamic elastic modulus increased, while the chloride penetration depth decreased. However, the weight–loss ratio remained similar. It was also found that the optimum PCC ash replacement ratio, which satisfies four durability parameters and can ensure the target compressive strength (fck = 24 MPa) in the case of mix proportion conditions set in this study, ranges from 20.0% to 38.9%. The sustainability assessment results showed that as the replacement ratio of PCC ash increased, the global warming potential (GWP), ozone layer depletion potential (ODP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), photochemical ozone creation potential (POCP) and abiotic depletion potential (ADP) decreased. Therefore, it was proven that the replacement of PCC ash instead of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) under the same concrete mix proportions is effective at reducing environmental impacts.

Pollutants and Their Interaction with Diseases of Social Hymenoptera

Many insect species, including social insects, are currently declining in abundance and diversity. Pollutants such as pesticides, heavy metals, or airborne fine particulate matter from agricultural and industrial sources are among the factors driving this decline. While these pollutants can have direct detrimental effects, they can also result in negative interactive effects when social insects are simultaneously exposed to multiple stressors. For example, sublethal effects of pollutants can increase the disease susceptibility of social insects, and thereby jeopardize their survival. Here we review how pesticides, heavy metals, or airborne fine particulate matter interact with social insect physiology and especially the insects’ immune system. We then give an overview of the current knowledge of the interactive effects of these pollutants with pathogens or parasites. While the effects of pesticide exposure on social insects and their interactions with pathogens have been relatively well studied, the effects of other pollutants, such as heavy metals in soil or fine particulate matter from combustion, vehicular transport, agriculture, and coal mining are still largely unknown. We therefore provide an overview of urgently needed knowledge in order to mitigate the decline of social insects.

Potential Risk to Pollinators from Nanotechnology-Based Pesticides

The decline in populations of insect pollinators is a global concern. While multiple factors are implicated, there is uncertainty surrounding the contribution of certain groups of pesticides to losses in wild and managed bees. Nanotechnology-based pesticides (NBPs) are formulations based on multiple particle sizes and types. By packaging active ingredients in engineered particles, NBPs offer many benefits and novel functions, but may also exhibit different properties in the environment when compared with older pesticide formulations. These new properties raise questions about the environmental disposition and fate of NBPs and their exposure to pollinators. Pollinators such as honey bees have evolved structural adaptations to collect pollen, but also inadvertently gather other types of environmental particles which may accumulate in hive materials. Knowledge of the interaction between pollinators, NBPs, and other types of particles is needed to better understand their exposure to pesticides, and essential for characterizing risk from diverse environmental contaminants. The present review discusses the properties, benefits and types of nanotechnology-based pesticides, the propensity of bees to collect such particles and potential impacts on bee pollinators.

Strength Time–Varying and Freeze–Thaw Durability of Sustainable Pervious Concrete Pavement Material Containing Waste Fly Ash

Pervious concretes, as sustainable pavement materials, have great advantages in addressing a number of environmental issues. Fly ash, as the industrial by-product waste, is the most commonly used as cement substitute in concrete. The objective of this paper is to study the effects of waste fly ash on properties of pervious concrete. Fly ash was used to replace cement with equivalent volume method at different levels (3%, 6%, 9%, and 12%). The control pervious concrete and fly ash modified pervious concrete were prepared in the laboratory. The porosity, permeability, compressive strength, flexural strength, and freeze–thaw resistance of all mixtures were tested. The results indicated that the addition of fly ash decreased the early-age (28 d) compressive strength and flexural strength, but the long-term (150 d) compressive strength and flexural strength of fly ash modified pervious concrete were higher than that of the early-age. The adverse effect of fly ash on freeze–thaw resistance of pervious concrete was observed when the fly ash was added. The porosity and permeability of all pervious concrete mixtures changed little with the content of fly ash due to the use of equal volume replacement method. Although fly ash is not positive to the properties of pervious concrete, it is still feasible to apply fly ash as a substitute for cement in pervious concrete.