ABSTRACT
The use of both sentinel species and sentinel bioassays is germane to laboratory and field analyses and to assessing the human and environmental health effects of toxic substances and hazardous conditions. The utility of sentinel species is based upon the uptake and metabolism of toxic xenobiotics and the occurrence of measurable biological changes as bioassay endpoints caused by xenobiotics. All bioassays have been applying the concepts of sentinel species and sentinel bioassay, in that particular species have been chosen and particular biological functions have been used. Plants, both domestic and wild, are particularly suited as sentinel species. There is a large number of cultivated crop and ornamental plants that may qualify as sentinel species and may be particularly useful for monitoring. Invertebrates offer a truly enormous reservoir of potential sentinel species, rivaling that of plants. They form many phyla, are found in all environments, and range in size from almost microscopic to the size reached by deep sea squid.
