Biomonitoring & You

The science of biomonitoring is based on the field of autecology, which examines the relationship between individual organisms and their environments.  The major concept upon which autecology is built is that of adaptation - the match of organisms to their environments brought about by natural selection.  The theory states that stresses in the environment act upon organismal features (morphological (those related to form), physiological (those related to function) or behavioral) resulting in adaptations, saving organisms energy for increased reproductive success. 

Jeremy Miller and Katie Eppley sampling for salamanders at the James H. Barrow Biological Field Station

Photo:  Biology 141 Class Hiram College

The more severe the stress of the environment the more likely we are to see the adaptations displayed by organisms for survival.  Some organisms display a wide range of tolerance to environmental change, and hence are found under a wide diversity of environmental conditions.  Other organisms are highly adapted to specific environmental conditions, and hence are intolerant even to small environmental changes.  In both types of organisms, tolerant or intolerant, the health of the organism may be an indication of a stress in the environment.  Intolerant organisms are unable to survive environmental change and therefore die in response to even small environmental changes.  In the science of biomonitoring, the absence of organisms from environments where we would expect to find them leads us to conclude that environmental degradation is the reason. Therefore, animals and plants can act as indicators of the health of the environment.  But in order to draw this conclusion we must first learn about the tolerances and adaptations of organisms.  We have to be good ecologists to make the connection between the distribution and abundance of organisms and the state of the environment.

Dennis J. Taylor

taylordj at hiram.edu

last updated 18 February 2007