THE MULTISPECIES FRESHWATER BIOMONITOR (MFB) AND ITS APPLICATIONS IN WATER QUALITY RESEARCH AND MONITORING

摘要

Biological early warning systems or online biomonitors have been developed in the last decades in order to detect sporadic toxic spills and to monitor water quality. A new biomonitor (Multispecies Freshwater Biomonitor, MFB) is described. The MFB has the following advantages: 1) All kinds of aquatic animals (from Daphnia sp. to fish) can be used. 2) A high number of replicates provides a sound statistical basis for the evaluation of the results. 3) Up to three different test species can be monitored simultaneously, e.g. from different trophic levels, functional feeding groups, habitats and tolerances. This increases the ecological relevance and reliability of the biomonitor and is a cost-effective alternative to the traditional biotest-battery approach, where up to three different biomonitors have to be installed. The MFB can be used for online water quality biomonitoring or for behavioural toxicity testing in toxicant screening and evaluation. The MFB offers information about 1) time to death, 2) time to behavioural response, 3) type of response, 4) duration of response and 5) % of animals responding. As behavioural parameters are often more sensitive and have shorter response times than LC-50 tests, the MFB allows for rapid, sensitive and cost-effective toxicity testing.