Bioindicators: characteristics and capabilities in environmental applications

In recent years, the pollution of the environment with all kinds of biological, chemical, poisons, pesticides and other compounds has accelerated and they are considered as one of the most important challenges of the present age. Different pollutants can be measured with the use of physical, chemical or biological methods. However, a lot of information has been provided in the field of the ability of biological indicators to detect different pollutants in recent years.

In this study, different methods of using living organisms as an indicator in determining environmental changes have been investigated. Biomonitoring by searching in PubMed, Google Scholar, Web of Science and Scopus databases using keywords "biological control", "bioindicator", "biomonitoring", "monitoring by microorganism", "bio detection", "biological index" and "biological indicator" in published articles until 2023.

The use of various living organisms such as macrophytes, crustaceans, phytoplankton's, protozoa and larger living organisms such as fish, canaries and insects has been common in the detection and monitoring of pollutants in the environment. These organisms with different mechanisms can help to detect or continuously monitor the presence of pollutants and determine their concentration levels in the environment such as aquatic environments.

bioindicators provides information related to the quality of the environment or its changes, which are used as an alternative to monitoring chemical pollutants. Bioindicators are living agents that can be used to identify and qualitatively and quantitatively determine the presence of various chemical, physical, and physicochemical factors. Today, many organisms are used as bioindicators in marine environments. Moss to measure heavy metals, killer trout in mountain streams to evaluate water temperature, canary in coal mine to evaluate carbon monoxide and methane gas, and many other living agents that are known as bioindicators that are used to detect the effects of disturbances and stresses.