Ecological Knowledge and Environmental Problem-Solving Concepts and Case Studies (1986) / Chapter Skim
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7. Indicator Species and Biological Monitoring
7. Indicator Species and Biological Monitoring
Pages 81-87
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From page 81... ...
These records can sometimes be read and monitored more economically than can records obtained by establishing stations that continuously monitor environmental conditions directly. But living organisms can also distort or obscure the records by altering chemicals in their bodies; therefore, detailed information is needed to determine which organisms are best suited to provide continuous records of various contaminants.
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From page 82... ...
Because our concern is to protect organisms under natural conditions, biological monitoring must be an integral part of monitoring schemes, although it must be kept in mind that the variability of natural systems often makes it hard to be certain that an apparent effect is a genuine one. O The use of communities of living organisms for monitoring can provide information about how toxic materials influence patterns of interactions among organisms, community patterns, and processes of concern (see Chapter 31.
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From page 83... ...
Sessile organisms are exposed to all the contaminants that enter their immediate environments, whereas mobile organisms can escape many of them by leaving the area. Many organisms stop reproducing under stressful conditions, so changes in fecundity rates can be important signals of environmental change; but special care is required here, because stress stimulates reproduction in some organisms, particularly plants.
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From page 84... ...
Much more work needs to be done before we will know whether concentrations of most materials in soft tissue can be used effectively to indicate current environmental changes or past environmental contamination. The utility of organisms as biological monitors of environmental changes is greatest when the functional relationships between perturbation and response are understood.
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From page 85... ...
The familiar cases of industrial melanism among lepidoptera in western Europe and northeastern North America are among the best-documented cases of evolution by natural selection in which environmental pollution was the primary factor in changing the survival rates of some genotypes (Kettlewell, 1973; May and Dobson, in press)
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From page 86... ...
The lack of adequate taxonomic collections and trained persons able to care for them is a serious scientific problem in the United States, as elsewhere, and it adversely affects our ability to follow and interpret human-caused environmental changes. MONITORING OF BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES We have discussed the role of biological monitoring in the detection of pollutants and their effects.
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From page 87... ...
These changes probably indicate as yet unknown environmental changes. MONITORING AND THE IDEA OF A PROJECT AS AN EXPERIMENT A major theme of this report is that many projects intended to produce something of value to human society take place on spatial and temporal scales much greater than can be duplicated in experiments designed purely for scientific purposes.
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