Biological indicators

A biological monitor, or
biomonitor, is defined as an
organism
that
provides
quantitative information on the
quality of the environment
around it. If many different
types of creatures can live in a
river, the quality is likely to be
very good; if the river supports
no fish life at all, the quality is
obviously
much
poorer.
Measurements like this are
called biological indicators of
water quality.

Biomonitors
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Biological indicators are species used to monitor the health of

an environment or ecosystem. They are any biological species
or group of species whose function, population, or status can be
used to determine ecosystem or environmental integrity
An example of such a group are the copepods and other small
water crustaceans present in many water bodies. Such
organisms are monitored for changes (biochemical,
physiological, or behavioural) that may indicate a problem within
their ecosystem
Bioindicators can tell us about the cumulative effects of
different pollutants in the ecosystem and about how long a
problem may have been present, which
physical and chemical testing cannot.

Function of Bioindicators
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Typical marine/estuarine
indicators include:
Phytoplankton indicators
of water quality, specifically
nutrients (e.g., nitrogen and
phosphorus)
Zooplankton sensitive to
changes in water quality
(e.g., toxic pollution, excess
nutrients,and low oxygen)
and are useful for future
fisheries health assessment
as they serve as a food
source for animals higher up
in the food chain

Benthos also
susceptible to stresses
associated with toxic
pollution,excess nutrients,
and low oxygen
Submerged Aquatic
Vegetation serve as
good indicators of water
conditions

Microbes as indicators
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Microorganisms can be used as indicators of aquatic

ecosystem health. Found in large quantities,
microorganisms are easier to sample than other
organisms. Some microorganisms will produce new
proteins, called stress proteins, when exposed to
contaminants like cadmium and benzene. These
stress proteins can be used as an early warning
system to detect high levels of pollution.

Aquatic biological indicators

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Sponges invariably filter a large volume of seawater and

potentially accumulate heavy metals and other contaminants from
the environment. Sponges, being sessile marine invertebrates and
modular in body organization, can live many years in the same
location and therefore have the capability to accumulate
anthropogenic pollutants such as metals over a long period.
Almost all marine sponges harbor large number of
microorganisms within their tissues where they reside in
the extra- and intra-cellular spaces. Bacteria in seawater
have already been established as biological indicators of
contamination.
The present study was intended to find out the heavy metal
resistance pattern of sponge-associated bacteria so as to
develop suitable biological indicators.

Organisms associated with sponges

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The bacteria associated with a marine sponge Fasciospongia

cavernosa were evaluated as potential indicator organisms. The
associated bacteria including Streptomyces sp., Salinobacter
sp.Roseobacter sp. Pseudomonas sp. Vibrio sp. Micromonospora
sp. Saccharomonospora sp. and Alteromonas sp.

Copepods as bioindicators
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Copepods are tiny crustaceans present in aquatic ecosystem.

They are primary consumers.
Changes in copepod population composition may serve as an
indicator of global weather changes. Composition changes alter
the variety of food available to larval fishes.
Tiny ocean particles, which often contain toxins, are consumed
by copepods. Because of this copepods can serve as a
bioindicator of water cleanness. In addition, copepods that
have died can settle to the ocean floor, taking such particles
with them. Thus they help maintain water purity.

Algae as bioindicators
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Algae:Simple rootless plants that grow in sunlit waters in

proportion to the amount of available nutrients. They can
affect water quality adversely by lowering the dissolved
oxygen in the water. They are food for fish and small
aquatic animals.
Algal Bloom:An episode of excessive nutrient content in a
river, stream or lake, which causes a proliferation of living
algae. The end result is a depletion of much needed
oxygen in the water. Excessive algae blooms can lead to
the death of the fish and aquatic organisms of the given
waterbody through oxygen deprivation called a "fish kill".

Periphyton, algal bloom

Bacteria as bioindicators - coliforms

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Bacteria are single-celled, prokaryotic organisms

(without a true nucleus) which reproduce asexually
by a simple division of cells called binary fission.
They are the most numerous organisms on earth,
living in nearly all environments including scalding
hot springs and oceanic thermal vents, oxygen
depleted benthic sediments, polar ice caps, the
insides and surfaces of other organisms, in water,
soil and air.

Bacteria as bioindicators
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Certain bacteria that live in the intestinal tracts of animals, are

essential for the recovery of nutrients from digested food.
Millions of these naturally occurring organisms are passed out of the
body with fecal wastes. If pathogenic (disease-causing) organisms
are present, they may be passed as well.
researchers use indicator organisms to assess the possibility of fecal
contamination.

Fecal coliform bacteria

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Fecal coliform bacteria, which include Escherichia coli and

Klebsiella species, are often used as indicators. These gram
negative bacilli (rod-shaped bacteria) are found in the
digestive systems of all warm-blooded animals. Most are not
pathogenic.
However, because they are eliminated with feces, they are
sometimes associated with pathogens. Total coliform bacteria
are sometimes used to test for water contamination also. These
organisms are less precise as fecal contamination indicators
because many can live and reproduce in soil and water.
If high numbers of fecal coliform bacteria are found in a sample
of stream water. fecal coliform bacteria are often used to
regulate surface waters for recreational use, shellfishing and
potability (ability to be safely consumed).

Federal regulations stipulate maximum

allowable numbers of these bacteria for
various water uses.
Connecticut state officials use total and fecal
coliform to evaluate drinking water, fecal
coliform to monitor shellfishing areas and the
general sanitary quality of surface waters,
and enterococci to evaluate