Biomonitoring

Biomonitoring is the science of inferring the ecological condition of an area by examining the organisms that live there. Although biomonitoring can occur in any ecosystem, it is most often used to assess water quality of rivers, lakes, streams, and wetlands.Biomonitoring typically takes two approaches:Bioassays, where test organisms are exposed to an environment to see if mutations or deaths occur. Typica organisms used in bioassays are fish, water fleas (Daphnia), and frogs.Community assessments, where an entire community of organisms is sampled, to see what types of taxa remain. In aquatic ecosystems, these assessments often focus on invertebrates, algae, macrophytes (aquatic plants), fish, or amphibians. Rarely, other large vertebrates (reptiles, birds, and mammals) are considered as well.
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1. The use of living organisms to test the suitability of effluents for discharge into receiving waters and to test the quality of such waters downstream from the discharge. 2. Analysis of blood, urine, tissues, etc. to measure chemical exposure in humans.