Bio Indicators

Question 1

Characteristics Of Bio Indicators

1. In terms of pollutant accumulation
2. In terms of geographical distribution
3. In terms of abundance
4. In terms of mobility
5. In terms of availability
6. In terms of laboratory studies
7. In terms of high concentration factor
8. In terms of contaminant concentration

Answer 1

1. It accumulates the pollutant without being killed by the level with which it comes in contact.
2. It must have a wide geographical distribution (i.e it is not localized)
3. It should be abundant
4. It should be sedentary or of scarce mobility.
5. It should be available all year round and allow for the collection of sufficient tissue for analysis.
6. It should be easy to collect and resistant to laboratory conditions as well as being usable in the laboratory studies of contaminant absorption if necessary
7. It should have high concentration factor of the contaminant under study.
8. It should have simple correlation between the quantity of contaminant contained in the organism and the average contaminant concentration in the surrounding environment.

Question 2

A major criterion of an organism being a bio indicator

Answer 2

It must be a bio accumulator

Question 3

Index of Atmospheric Purity (IAP)

Answer 3

IAP=£fi

where f is the frequency/abundance of the specie