Bioindicator
As biological indicators use highly resistant microorganisms, any sterilization process that renders them inactive will have also killed off more common, weaker pathogens.
The information can be deduced through the study of: The importance and relevance of biomonitors, rather than man-made equipment, are justified by the observation that the best indicator of the status of a species or system is itself.
[13] As a result, researchers who use bioindicators need to consistently ensure that each set of indices is relevant within the environmental conditions they plan to monitor.
[15] The leaves of certain vascular plants experience harmful effects in the presence of ozone, particularly tissue damage, making them useful in detecting the pollutant.
[16][17] These plants are observed abundantly in Atlantic islands in the Northern Hemisphere, the Mediterranean Basin, equatorial Africa, Ethiopia, the Indian coastline, the Himalayan region, southern Asia, and Japan.
[18] These regions with high endemic richness are particularly vulnerable to ozone pollution, emphasizing the importance of certain vascular plant species as valuable indicators of environmental health in terrestrial ecosystems.
As an example, Lobaria pulmonaria has been identified as an indicator species for assessing stand age and macrolichen diversity in Interior Cedar–Hemlock forests of east-central British Columbia, highlighting its ecological significance as a bioindicator.
[19] The abundance of Lobaria pulmonaria was strongly correlated with this increase in diversity, suggesting its potential as an indicator of stand age in the ICH.
[19] Another Lichen species, Xanthoria parietina, serves as a reliable indicator of air quality, effectively accumulating pollutants like heavy metals and organic compounds.
Studies have shown that X. parietina samples collected from industrial areas exhibit significantly higher concentrations of these pollutants compared to those from greener, less urbanized environments.
The disappearance of lichens in a forest may indicate environmental stresses, such as high levels of sulfur dioxide, sulfur-based pollutants, and nitrogen oxides.
The composition and total biomass of algal species in aquatic systems serve as an important metric for organic water pollution and nutrient loading such as nitrogen and phosphorus.
On the other hand, stress-induced sub-lethal effects can be manifested in animal physiology, morphology, and behaviour of individuals long before responses are expressed and observed at the population level.
[28] They also have permeable skin that can easily absorb toxic chemicals, making them a model organism for assessing the effects of environmental factors that may cause the declines of the amphibian population.
[28] These factors allow them to be used as bioindicator organisms to follow changes in their habitats and in ecotoxicological studies due to humans increasing demands on the environment.
[27] The slow development, late morphological change, and small metamorph size result in increased risk of mortality and exposure to predation.
In addition, they occur abundantly in nature, they are an essential component in very many food webs, they are easy to culture and to use in assays and there are few if any ethical issues involved in their use.
This is largely due to the fact that most macro-invertebrates are visible to the naked eye, they typically have a short life-cycle (often the length of a single season) and are generally sedentary.
Changes in population size and species type in specific study regions indicate the physical and chemical state of streams and rivers.
[9] Tolerance values are commonly used to assess ecological effects of water pollution[44] such as pesticide contamination with the SPEAR system[45] and environmental degradation, such as human activities (e.g. selective logging and wildfires) in tropical forests.
The WFD requires member states to implement monitoring systems to estimate the integrity of biological stream components for specific sub-surface water categories.
This requirement increased the incidence of biometrics applied to ascertain stream health in Europe[13] A remote online biomonitoring system was designed in 2006.
This technology has been successfully used for the assessment of coastal water quality in various countries (France, Spain, Norway, Russia, Svalbard (Ny-Ålesund) and New Caledonia).
[25] In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published Rapid Bioassessment Protocols, in 1999, based on measuring macroinvertebrates, as well as periphyton and fish for assessment of water quality.
[citation needed] The imposex phenomenon in the dog conch species of sea snail leads to the abnormal development of a penis in females, but does not cause sterility.
