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Plant Biomonitors in Aquatic Environments

Assessing Impairment Via Plant Performance

  • Chapter
Biomonitors and Biomarkers as Indicators of Environmental Change 2

Part of the book series: Environmental Science Research ((ESRH,volume 56))

Abstract

In this review we focus on use of the aquatic macrophyte, Vallisneria americana, as a biomonitor of overall environmental conditions in the Laurentian Great Lakes. An array of measures of plant performance have been investigated; estimates of the leaf-to-root surface area ratio have proved to be the most consistently effective and useful. The species has been used in many different ways to characterize plant response to single organochlorines and metals, PCB mixtures, and as a bioassay of sediment toxicity, in the lab and in the field, to evaluate designated Areas of Concern, and to focus upon individual microsites and point source impact zones.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, N9B 3P4, Canada

    Lesley Lovett-Doust & Jon Lovett-Doust

Authors
  1. Lesley Lovett-Doust
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  2. Jon Lovett-Doust
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for River Research International, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Frank M. Butterworth

  2. Donaukraft Engineering, Vienna, Austria

    Amara Gunatilaka

  3. Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Cuidad Universitaria, Mexico

    Maria Eugenia Gonsebatt

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© 2001 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Lovett-Doust, L., Lovett-Doust, J. (2001). Plant Biomonitors in Aquatic Environments. In: Butterworth, F.M., Gunatilaka, A., Gonsebatt, M.E. (eds) Biomonitors and Biomarkers as Indicators of Environmental Change 2. Environmental Science Research, vol 56. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1305-6_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1305-6_19

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-5488-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-1305-6

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