Biomarker
Definition of Biomarker:
Biomarkers refer to any observable and/or measurable change at the molecular, biochemical, cellular, physiological or behavioral level, which reveals the present or past exposure of an organism to one or more chemical pollutants.[1].
This is the common definition for Biomarker, other definitions can be discussed in the article
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Biomarkers provide a measure of the impact of pollutants on organisms exposed over a certain period of time. They allow to assess the environmental quality and health status of ecosystems. They are not intended to detect direct lethal effects. Biomarkers can reveal low levels of environmental pollution at an early stage, before the entire ecosystem is impacted. The predictive power of biomarkers at the ecosystem level is limited by compensatory mechanisms of population response, the complexity of trophic interactions within communities and the complexity of environmental pollution. Therefore, no single biomarker can explain the diversity of pollutants and the multitude of their effects on marine organisms. A set of diverse and coherent indicators via multiple biomarkers is needed to allow systematic screening of different possible effects in response to the different disturbances to which organisms are exposed. Each biomarker then provides a response that correlates with the identified damage, without being influenced by other factors intrinsic to the species, such as seasonal fluctuations, age and sex.[2][3][4][5]
Examples and applications of biomarkers are discussed in the article Common biomarkers for the assessment of marine pollution
Related articles
References
- ↑ Lagadic, L., Caquet, T. and Amiard, J.C. 1997. Biomarqueurs en écotoxicologie: principes et définitions (introduction). Elsevier Mason SAS, 1997, 2-225-83053-3
- ↑ McCarthy, J.F., Jimenez, B.D., Shugart, L.R., Sloop, F.V. and Oikari, A. 1990. Biological markers in animal sentinels: laboratory studies improve interpretation of field data. In: Situ Evaluation of Biological Hazards of Environmental Pollutants. Springer, pp. 163–175
- ↑ Beliaeff, B. and Burgeot, T. 2002. Integrated biomarker response: a useful tool for ecological risk assessment. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. An Int. J. 21: 1316–1322
- ↑ Galloway, T.S., Brown, R.J., Browne, M.A., Dissanayake, A., Lowe, D., Jones, M.B. and Depledge, M.H. 2004. Ecosystem management bioindicators: the ECOMAN project–a multi-biomarker approach to ecosystem management. Mar. Environ. Res. 58: 233–237
- ↑ Chahouri, A., Yacoubi, B., Moukrim, A. and Banaoui, A. 2023. Bivalve molluscs as bioindicators of multiple stressors in the marine environment: Recent advances. Continental Shelf Research 264, 105056
