Ecosystem monitoring: goals and necessity, role of bioindication
The definition of the term "ecotoxicants" is given and information is provided on the main natural and anthropogenic sources. Attention is focused on the possibility of ecotoxicants entering the ecosystem and their negative effects on biota, including human health. The objectives and the need for ecotoxicological monitoring, both for regulatory emissions and discharges of toxicants into the environment, and for emergency purposes, have been identified to obtain objective information about the state of ecosystems and to predict possible changes, to develop measures to prevent their deterioration under ecotoxicants. The scheme of the program of ecotoxicological monitoring of ecosystems is given. The emphasis is on bioindication methods for environmental monitoring, the feasibility of their implementation. It is noted that these methods, based on the response of living organisms and their communities to the action of ecotoxicants, can adequately reflect the presence in the environment of a particular pollutant, determined by the state of certain organisms (bioindicators, test objects). Information is provided on the possibility of bioindication methods to determine the complex nature of pollution and to diagnose early violations of the state of biota, to identify secondary effects of pollutants that are caused by their accumulation and transformation in various chains and their links in ecosystems. The information obtained by bioindication methods to a certain extent with appropriate correlation can be used to predict the effect of these ecotoxicants or their complexes on human health.