Bioindicators in Aquatic Environment and Their Significance
Bioindicators in Aquatic Environment and Their Significance
Bioindicators in Aquatic Environment and Their Significance
SIGNIFICANCE
1
Senior Research Fellow, Aquatic Environment and Health Management Division, ICAR- CIFE,
Mumbai- 400061, India.
2
Ph.D. Scholar, Fisheries Resources, Harvest and Post-Harvest Management Division, ICAR-
CIFE, Mumbai- 400061, India.
3
PG Scholar, Department of Aquaculture, Dr. M.G.R. Fisheries College and Research Institute,
Ponneri, Thiruvallur,Tamil Nadu, India.
4
Assistant Professor and Head, Erode Bhavanisagar Centre for Sustainable Aquaculture –
Bhavanisagar, Erode, Tamil Nadu, India.
ABSTRACT
Bioindicators are organisms or biological processes which indicate altered environmental conditions
and can be used to identify and/or quantify the impact of pollutants on the environment. The
assessment on the status of bioindicators would indirectly provide an estimate of the natural state or
the level/degree of contamination that is present in that particular ecosystem. The bioindicatorsin an
aquatic ecosystem include algae, macrophyte, zooplankton, bivalve mollusks, seabirds and fish that
can be used to assess the contaminants in aquatic system. A biological system provides an indication
regarding the health of its surroundings such as plankton responding rapidly to changes taking
place in the surrounding environment. The variations in the populations of animals may indicate
harmful changes caused due to pollution into the ecosystem. The development of industry and
agriculture promotes the rapid increase in pollution. Bioindicators can be used as an index of
measures or a model that characterizes an ecosystem health.
INTRODUCTION
A bioindicator can be any organism, microbe, plant, fungi or an animal. Microbial indicators
including bioluminescent bacteria, can be used in a variety of ways to detect environmental
pollutants in water. Plants are sensitive tools for prediction and recognition of environmental
stresses. The organisms and their associations can monitor for changes that may indicate the
problem within their ecosystem. The changes can be chemical, physiological, behavioral and
ecological health. Ecological health can be viewed in terms of ecosystems, in which structural
and functional characteristics are maintained. It can be expanded to include many aspects of
human health and well-being. Each organism within an ecosystem has the ability to report on
the health of its environment. Specific physiological and behavioral changes in bioindicators are
used to detect changes in environmental health of an ecosystem. These specific changes differ
from organism to organism and have to be properly studied prior to selecting them as bioindicator.
In general a bioindicator organism or organisms association are introduced to environmental
samples, such as soil or water, and researchers observe any changes that occur as a result of
exposure. Bioindicators can provide information on the cumulative effects of different pollutants
in the ecosystem and about how long a problem may persist, for example: a) abundance of
large marine organism or darkening of coral pigmentation may indicate that a reef has been
exposed to poor quality of water for several weeks or months, b) reduced photosynthesis in
plants or coral may indicate stress due to exposure to herbicides.
Response of organism-types
Ecological changes: involving changes in population density, key species and species
diversity
Behavioral changes: changes in feeding activities, bacterial mobility or web spinning
Physiological changes: accumulation of heavy metal, CO2 production, BOD and microbial
activity
phosphorus and nitrogen. Diatom are powerful indicator of environmental change and its
emergence as a preferred indicator in monitoring studies (Dixit et al. 1992). Lichens are
often found on rocks and tree trunks. They respond to environmental changes in forests,
including changes in forest structures, air quality, and climate. The disappearance of lichens
in a forest may indicate environmental stresses, such as high levels of sulfur dioxide, sulfur-
based pollutants, and nitrogen.
Animal indicators:
An increase or decrease in an animal population may indicate damage to ecosystem by any
pollution. For example, if pollution causes the depletion of important food sources, animal
species dependent upon these food sources will also be reduced in number. In addition to
monitoring the size and number of certain species, other mechanisms of animal indication
include monitoring the concentration of toxins in animal tissues, or monitoring the rate at which
deformities arise in animal population.
Macro-invertebrates are preferred as bioindicators as they are large enough to be seen with the
unaided eye.for example, bivalve (“Mussel Watch”) and crustaceans for most desirable for studying
the metal pollution. In USA under the Mussel Watch Program, the widespread blue mussel
Mytilusedulis was used to monitor metal pollution since 1986. These bivalves are a good indicator
for coastal pollution due to its wide distribution, easy transfer in other regions for “active”
biomonitoring, high abundances, high accumulation rate of many xenobiotics (DDT, PAH and
PCBs) with longterm monitoring (three years).
Zooplankton
Zooplankton development and conveyance are subject to abiotic factors such as temperature,
saltiness, stratification, and pollutants and biotic parameters viz., limitation of food, predation
and compétition. Hence, it is identified as an excellent bioindicator to evaluate the contamination
of any coastal and oceanic bodies (Parmar et al., 2016)
Macrophytes
Seaweeds or macro algae (e.g. Fucus spp.) accumulate metals, pesticides and a myriad of
chemicals from seawater. Typha sp. is an indicator for Cadmium (Cd) and Nickel (Ni) pollutant
in inland wetlands and water bodies. Juncus sp. has been identified as a good indicator of Zinc
(Zn) pollution in urban water runoff (Sumampouw and Risjani, 2014). Floating Eichhornia crassipes
for mercury, non-rooted submerged Ceratophyllum demersum and rooted submerged Potomogeton
crispies for assessing heavy metals like cadmium, copper, iron, lead, zinc and manganese in
rivers (Jain et al., 2010). Moss and liverworts can also be used to access heavy metals in
ponds. Wolffia globosa have also shown sensitivity for cadmium and has potential to be used
as indicator of cadmium contamination in lakes ponds and swamps.
Advantages
Biological impacts can be determined
Suitable to monitor synergetic and antagonistic impacts of various pollutants on a creature
Early stage diagnosis as well as harmful effects of toxins to plants, as well as human
beings, can be monitored
Easy to count, due to their prevalence
Comparatively cheaper than other techniques which involve costly procedures and equipment
The bioindicator is helpful, objective, straightforward, and reproducible
Significance
Practical way of assessing the health of environment
Indicates general toxicity of environment and conservation of natural resources
Monitor the progress of environmental cleanup and test substances, like drinking water for
the presence of contaminants
Planktonic monitors unite biological, physical, chemical factors, and are utilized as an
important part for evaluating health status of water bodies
Bioindicators can be utilized at various scales, from the cell to the environmental level, for
assessing the changes taking place in a specific biological community
CONCLUSION
Bioindicator have a remarkable potential in forecasting of disasters, prevention of pollution,
exploration and conservation of natural resources, all aiming at a sustainable development with
minimum destruction of biosphere. It can be applied in predicting the impact of anthropogenic
activities particularly pollutants and predicting environmental changes in a timely manner.They
are also a method of monitoring or detecting the negative impacts that the industrial activity has
on the aquatic environment.
REFERENCES
Bonanno, G. and Raccuia, S.A., (2018). Seagrass Halophila stipulacea: Capacity of accumulation
and biomonitoring of trace elements. Science of the Total Environment, 633: 257-263.
D’costa, A.H., Shyama, S.K., MK, P.K. and Furtado, S., (2018). The Backwater Clam (Meretrix casta) as
a bioindicator species for monitoring the pollution of an estuarine environment by genotoxic
agents. Mutation Research/Genetic Toxicology and Environmental Mutagenesis, 825: 8-14
Dixit, S.S., Smol, J.P., Kingston, J.C. and Charles, D.F., (1992). Diatoms: powerful indicators of
environmental change. Environmental science & technology, 26(1): 22-33.
Jain, A., Singh, B.N., Singh, S.P., Singh, H.B. and Singh, S., (2010). Exploring biodiversity as
bioindicators for water pollution. In Proceedings of the National Conference on Biodiversity,
Development and Poverty Alleviation, Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow, India. Uttar Pradesh State
Biodiversity Board.
Omar, W.M.W., (2010). Perspectives on the use of algae as biological indicators for monitoring and
protecting aquatic environments, with special reference to Malaysian freshwater
ecosystems. Tropical life sciences research, 21(2): 51.
Parmar, T.K., Rawtani, D. and Agrawal, Y.K., (2016). Bioindicators: the natural indicator of environmental
pollution. Frontiers in Life Science, 9(2): 110-118.
Reguera, P., Couceiro, L. and Fernández, N., (2018). A review of the empirical literature on the use of
limpets Patella spp.(Mollusca: Gastropoda) as bioindicators of environmental quality. Ecotoxicology
and environmental safety, 148:593-600.
Sivasankar, R., Ezhilarasan, P., Kumar, P.S., Naidu, S.A., Rao, G.D., Kanuri, V.V., Rao, V.R. and Ramu,
K., (2018). Loricate ciliates as an indicator of eutrophication status in the estuarine and coastal
waters. Marine pollution bulletin, 129(1): 207-211.
Wu, J.T., 1984. Phytoplankton as bioindicator for water quality in Taipei. Bot. Bull. Acad. Sin., 25(2):
205-214.
Zhou, Q., Zhang, J., Fu, J., Shi, J. and Jiang, G., (2008). Biomonitoring: an appealing tool for
assessment of metal pollution in the aquatic ecosystem. Analytica. Chimica. acta, 606(2):135-
150.
*Corresponding Author:
Manickavasagam, S – Senior Research Fellow, Aquatic Environment and Health Management
Division, ICAR- CIFE, Mumbai- 400061, India.
Received : 03.02.2019
Accepted : 27.02.2019