CONCEPTS FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF BIOMARKERS IN ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING

Biomarkers are promising tools for biomonitoring, both in the marine a nd freshwater environment. It is however clear that much more informat ion is needed about the exact relation between biomarker responses and the health and fitness of organisms, and evert more so between biomar ker responses and risks for the ecosystem. In order to address these q uestions, if is important to realise that the possibilities for the ap plication of a biomarker depend on the concept that is chosen for envi ronmental monitoring. The purpose of;monitoring programs varies from s imple screening to risk characterisation on the ecosystem level. This paper compares a number of these concepts with respect to how biomarke rs cart be used and with respect to the specific requirements for furt her implementation of biomarkers in environmental monitoring. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.