300202 VO Bioindicaton and Biomonitoring (2007W)

The lecture aims at giving a brief state-of-the-art overview of the current knowledge of how and where organisms can be used to assess environmental and ecosystem quality.
Frequently used terms in the field of bioindication / biomonitoring will be defined by giving examples of their assessment. An overview on active / passive monitoring methods will be shown as well as the application of bioaccumulators and reactive organism in environmental control. The lecture will give an introduction on how increasing knowledge of ecology has lead to the insight that sub-cellular compounds, cells, individuals, populations and ecosystems can be used as indicators for ecosystem quality and for assessment of the impact of environmental stress on the composition and functioning of ecosystems. An important question to be answered is on the type of information that can be obtained from biological indicators, and the advantages and disadvantages of their use. International concepts and application, the role of bioindication in legislature, and concepts of combining human toxicology and ecotoxicology will be shown.