Biomonitoring Our Streams: What's It All About?
Abstract
Testing for chemical pollution in our nation's streams has traditionally meant using analytical chemistry. In recent years, environmental agencies have endorsed biological monitoring to enhance or replace chemical monitoring. The theory behind biological monitoring, or biomonitoring, is to use the organisms living in the aquatic system as a measure of water quality. This concept was applied to air quality and used by miners who took canaries into deep mines with them. If the canary died, the miners knew the air was bad, and they had to leave the mine. Biomonitoring an aquatic system uses the same theoretical approach. Aquatic organisms are subject to pollutants in the stream as it flows by, day or night. Consequently, the health of the organisms reflects the quality of the water they live in. If the pollution levels reach a critical concentration, certain organisms will die, migrate away, or fail to reproduce, eventually leading to the disappearance of those species at the polluted site. Normally, these organisms will return if conditions improve in the system. The three general components of an aquatic ecosystem that influence the biological community are water chemistry, geomorphology, and hydrology. Each component influences the health of the biological community individually and together. Toxic chemicals are only a single factor within the water-chemistry component. Consideration of all three components and their interactions is critical when interpreting biomonitoring data. The pamphlet discusses the following topics: the definition of biomonitoring, factors that control the toxicity of a chemical, the steps involved in a biomonitoring project, varying approaches to site selection and the benefits and limitations of each, target organisms and some general applications in water-quality monitoring, sampling techniques and the criteria for their use, and interpreting the data.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1994
- Accession Number
- ADA447934
Entities
People
- George F. Smith
- Thomas D. Byl