This exposure pays off for the citizens of East Central Indiana. Thirty-three former Muncie Center students now practice medicine in Delaware County. One of my research interests is in environmental quality. Data show that human health is related to environmental health. Because prevention is less costly than treatment, it follows that one way to improve human health and to reduce health care expenses is simply to ensure that we maintain a clean environment.
Environmental monitoring can be expensive.
To reduce costs, biologists, toxicologists, and health specialists rely on wild plants and animals for information about current environmental health. Because wild organisms are constantly in the environment, they continually monitor this environment through their own biological requirements. Different organisms are tolerant of different levels of toxins, and by monitoring which species are present and which have disappeared, a measure of environmental health can be estimated and probed using more sensitive, directed, quantitative techniques. Amphibians frogs, toads, and salamanders have a number of characteristics that make them good bioindicators. Amphibians have thin skin that is permeable to water and much of the grunge that occurs in water.