From Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia.
A
biological
monitor, or biomonitor,
is defined as an
organism that provides
quantitative information on
the quality of
the environment around it.
Therefore, a good biomonitor will
indicate the presence of the
pollutant and also attempt to
provide additional information
about the amount and intensity of
the exposure.
A bioindicator is an
organism or biological response
that reveals the presence of the
pollutants by the accurance of
typical symptoms or measurable
responses, and is therefore more
qualitative.
These organisms (or communities
of organisms) deliver information
on alterations in the environment
or the quantity of environmental
pollutants by changing in one
of the following ways:
physiologically,
chemically or
behaviourally.
The information can be deduced
through the study of:
- their content of certain
elements or
compounds
- their
morphological or
cellular structure
-
metabolic-biochemical
processes
- behaviour, or
-
population structure(s)
The importance and relevance of
biomonitors, rather than man-made
equipment, is justified by the
statement:
- "There is no better
indicator of the status of a
species or a system than a
species or system itself" -
Tingey (1989)
The use of a biomonitor is
described as biological
monitoring (abbr.
biomonitoring) and is the use of
the properties of an organism to
obtain information on certain
aspects of the biosphere.
Biomonitoring of air pollutants
can be
passive or
active. Passive methods
observe plants growing naturally
within the area of interest.
Active methods detect the presence
of air pollutants by placing test
plants of known response and
genotype into the study area.
Bioaccumulative
indicators are frequently
regarded as biomonitors.
There are several types of
natural biomonitors, including
mosses,
lichens,
tree bark, bark pockets,
tree rings,
leaves, and
fungi.
References
- Bohm (1998)
- Gorecki (2002)
- Madejon et al (2004)
- Mulgrew and Williams (2000)
- Tingey (1989)
- Wolterbeek et al
(2001)
