Biomonitoring of Environmental Pollution

Dear Colleagues,

Here, I present to you, a special issue on ‘Biomonitoring of Environmental Pollution’. The concern on  the deleterious effects of pollutants on both terrestrial and aquatic organisms calls for the development of early warning tools to be used in assessment, identification and the estimation of the risks posed by the pollutants discharged to the environment. The overall aim is to prevent damage to the ecosystem and thereafter build up sustenance of the general biota, wildlife and human health. Physical and Chemical data alone of pollutant concentrations in environmental matrices (water, sediments, air, and soil) are not sufficient to reliably assess the potential risks of pollution for living organisms and human health, therefore the need to monitor with organisms.

Biomonitoring means the act of observing and assessing the status of an ecosystem and changes occurring in its landscape and biodiversity components, including the types of natural habitats, species and populations. It is one of the cost-effective and simple ways for investigating the environmental quality and refers to process that uses living organisms to obtain quantitative information on environmental quality. Biomonitoring studies are used to assess various ecosystem health because organisms function as sensors of the quality of their environment in several ways that direct measurements of environmental quality cannot.

We seek contributions from a broad base that demonstrate the possibility of monitoring pollution (air, water, land and soil) using biomonitoring potential of microbes, lower plants (lichens, bryophytes, pteridophytes and algae), higher plants, lower animals (invertebrates) and higher animals to develop decision support tools for enhanced understanding of the threats posed by human activities on the integrity of the environment, and their use in conservation and management of the ecosystem.

We specifically solicit submissions on the following themes:

• the systematic measurement of compounds and/or detection of cell or cell molecules alterations in living organisms with the purpose of identifying or assessing potential hazardous exposure and effects to chemicals.
• Biomonitoring of occupational and environmental exposure to chemicals, including persistent organic pollutants (POPs)
• Biomonitoring of aquatic communities to disturbances, ways to protect biodiversity, evaluate compliance, and improve understanding of the relationship between physical, chemical, and biological components as well as studies to determine response and recovery of damaged ecosystem
• The use of biomonitoring indices as decision support tools for the conservation and management of the environment

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Francis Ofurum Arimoro
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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• bioindicators
• bioaccumulators
• biomonitors
• pollution
• chemicals