page_title: Bioindicator
hierarchical_section_title: Bioindicator
caption_attribution_description: Original description on website: "Caddisfly adults resemble moths, but the wings are covered with fine hair instead of scales. (Trichoptera = "hair wing.") Caddisfly larvae are a favorite food of many fish, including trout, and are used as bait by sport fishermen. The larvae are especially sensitive to water pollution and their numbers can be monitored over a period of time as a good indicator of water quality. These primitive flying insects are most abundant near well-aerated streams and fast-flowing water, but also frequent lakes, ponds and marshes. This specimen was found at the west branch of the DuPage River, a fairly sluggish body of water, home to both large and smallmouth bass, walleye, and panfish such as bluegills and sunfish."
context_page_description: A bioindicator is any species or group of species whose function, population, or status can reveal the qualitative status of the environment. For example, copepods and other small water crustaceans that are present in many water bodies can be monitored for changes that may indicate a problem within their ecosystem. Bioindicators can tell us about the cumulative effects of different pollutants in the ecosystem and about how long a problem may have been present, which physical and chemical testing cannot.
  A biological monitor or biomonitor is an organism that provides quantitative information on the quality of the environment around it. Therefore, a good biomonitor will indicate the presence of the pollutant and can also be used in an attempt to provide additional information about the amount and intensity of the exposure.
  A biological indicator is also the name given to a process for assessing the sterility of an environment through the use of resistant microorganism strains.
context_section_description: A bioindicator is any species (an indicator species) or group of species whose function, population, or status can reveal the qualitative status of the environment. For example, copepods and other small water crustaceans that are present in many water bodies can be monitored for changes (biochemical, physiological, or behavioural) that may indicate a problem within their ecosystem. Bioindicators can tell us about the cumulative effects of different pollutants in the ecosystem and about how long a problem may have been present, which physical and chemical testing cannot.
  A biological monitor or biomonitor is an organism that provides quantitative information on the quality of the environment around it. Therefore, a good biomonitor will indicate the presence of the pollutant and can also be used in an attempt to provide additional information about the amount and intensity of the exposure.
  A biological indicator is also the name given to a process for assessing the sterility of an environment through the use of resistant microorganism strains (eg. Bacillus or Geobacillus). Biological indicators can be described as the introduction of a highly resistant microorganisms to a given environment before sterilization, tests are conducted to measure the effectiveness of the sterilization processes. As biological indicators use highly resistant microorganisms, any sterilization process that renders them inactive will have also killed off more common, weaker pathogens.
caption: Caddisfly (order Trichoptera), a macroinvertebrate used as an indicator of water quality.[1]
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