ABSTRACT
The key problem faced by ecotoxicological scientists is to recognize the damaging effects of chemical pollutants on natural biota. This chapter highlights the advantages of using nondestructive biomarkers approaches. Biomarkers are used extensively in all branches of medicine, but perhaps they have found most utility in the field of oncology where markers of tumor growth are routinely used to monitor the course of a disease and the effectiveness of treatment. Biomarkers have been used extensively in the evaluation of occupational health risks. The possibility of using biomarkers in the context of ecotoxicology has been recognized many times, but was not explicitly formulated into a coherent approach until attempts began to clearly define biomarkers. Biomarkers raise the possibility of determining where an organism lies on the health status curve; and thus potentially offer an early warning of when pollutant exposure induces early, reversible departures from homeostasis or from the compensatory zone.
