Biomonitoring is the science of inferring the ecological condition of an area by examining the organisms that live there. Although biomonitoring can occur in any ecosystem, it is most often used to assess water quality of rivers, lakes, streams, and wetlands.

Biomonitoring typically takes two approaches:

• Bioassays, where test organisms are exposed to an environment to see if mutations or deaths occur. Typica organisms used in bioassays are fish, water fleas (Daphnia), and frogs.

• Community assessments, where an entire community of organisms is sampled, to see what types of taxa remain. In aquatic ecosystems, these assessments often focus on invertebrates, algae, macrophytes (aquatic plants), fish, or amphibians. Rarely, other large vertebrates (reptiles, birds, and mammals) are considered as well.

Aquatic invertebrates have the longest history of use in biomonitoring programs. In typical unpolluted temperate streams of Europe and North America, certain insect taxa predominate. Mayflies (Ephemeroptera), caddisflies (Trichoptera), and stoneflies (Plecoptera) are the most common insects in these undisturbed streams. In rivers disturbed by urbanization, agriculture, forestry, and other perturbations, flies (Diptera), and especially midges (family Chironomidae) predominate

Sources:

Rosenberg, D.M. and V.H. Resh ( eds.) 1993. Freshwater biomonitoring and benthic macroinvertebrates. Chapman and Hall, New York. 488 p.

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