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Biomonitors

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Estuaries

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

Synonyms

Sentinel organisms

Definition

Biomonitors are organisms that accumulate contaminants in their tissues and can be used to yield a relative measure of the total amount of contaminants in the environment integrated over a period of time. They respond simultaneously to different stressors, providing quantitative information on the quality of the environment.

Applications and characteristics

To observe the impact of anthropogenic activities on ecosystems and their development over a long period or different locations is a large-scale, costly, and time-consuming task. Monitoring such impacts is a challenge, once it involves systematic data acquisition in time and/or space in order to characterize distribution patterns and trends in all possible environmental compartments in which contaminants may accumulate (Chapman et al., 1982).

Biomonitors, by definition, are net accumulators of trace elements (Rainbow, 2002) and can be seen as self-contained, self-powered units that can respond...

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Bibliography

  • Amiard-Triquet, C., Rainbow, P. S., and Romeo, M., 2011. Tolerance to Environmental Contaminants. Boca Raton: CRC Press.

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  • Chapman, P. M., Romberg, G. P., and Vigers, G. A., 1982. Design of monitoring for priority pollutants. Water Pollution Control Federation, 54, 292–297.

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  • Goldberg, E. D., 1986. The Mussel Watch concept. Environment Monitoring and Assessment, 7, 91–103.

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  • Luoma, S. N., and Rainbow, P. S., 2008. Metal Contamination in Aquatic Environments: Science and Lateral Management. New York: Cambridge University Press.

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  • Rainbow, P. S., 2002. Trace metal concentrations in aquatic invertebrates: why and so what? Environmental Pollution, 120, 497–507.

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  • Rainbow, P. S., 2006. Biomonitoring of trace metals in estuarine and marine environments. Australian Journal of Ecotoxicology, 12, 107–122.

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  • Rainbow, P. S., and Phillips, D. J. H., 1993. Cosmopolitan biomonitors of trace metals. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 26, 593–601.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório de Oceanografia Química – CIENAm, Instituto de Química, Universidade Federal da Bahia – UFBA, Rua Barão de Geremoabo, 147, 40170-290, Salvador, BA, Brazil

    Vanessa Hatje

Authors
  1. Vanessa Hatje
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vanessa Hatje .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA

    Michael J. Kennish

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© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Hatje, V. (2016). Biomonitors. In: Kennish, M.J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Estuaries. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8801-4_140

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