Environmental Indicators

Environmental scientists would learn very little about habitat and diversity by monitoring crows or other generalists. Specialists, however, often fluctuate in numbers in response to changes in the environment. For this reason many specialists are called indicator species because they react dramatically to changes in the environment and so serve as early warnings of environmental decay. The following table lists some indicator species and the information they provide in environmental science.

Like a canary carried into a mine to detect deadly gases, birds serve as harbingers of danger in the environment before humans sense it. Certain species require very specific habitats, so monitoring them is the best way to monitor that habitat, whether it is a wetland, beach, riparian area, woodland, or forest. Birds therefore serve as excellent biodiversity indicators for the following reasons:

» live in every climate and biome

» participate in almost every terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem on the earth

» migrate between climates and biomes

» respond quickly to changes in habitat

» easy to track and count

» give behavioral clues to threats

» most species play a central role in numerous food webs

» different species depend on certain terrestrial plants, aquatic grasses, trees, seeds, insects, rodents and other mammals, and marine species as food

» reproduction is sensitive to pollution

Source of Information : Green Technology Biodiversity (2010)