As our environment is degrading day by day it's an important tool for the study of environmental health. Ecological indicators provide us information about the sudden change in the environment. So that we can take appropriate steps for its protection.

1. Ecological Indicators and Support with
Local Examples
SUBMITTED BY:
Smrutisikha Mohanty
Roll no. 200691
1st Semester
SUBMITTED TO:
Dr. Manoj Kumar
Assistant Professor
Department of Environmental Studies

2. CONTENTS
 Introduction
 Types
 Physiochemical Indicators
 Bio-indicators
 Case Studies
 Summery
 References

3. • Indicators provide warning for the environmental changes
hence, an important management tool.
• As I belong to a biodiversity rich area, it drives my interest
towards the ecology, especially several indicators due to their
quick responses.
• It can be used to monitor the environmental health.
WHY INTERESTED

4. INTRODUCTION
• An indicator is a sign or signal that relays a complex message,
potentially from numerous sources, in a simplified and useful
manner.(Wicks et al., 2010)
• Ecological indicators are a sub-set of environmental indicators.
• Any organism or group of organisms indicative of a particular
environment or set of environmental conditions.
• For example, lichens may be used as indicators of air pollution
and fossil assemblages as indicators of past environments.
Crinoid Fossil Assemblage
Source: Internet

5. BIOLOGICAL
INDICATORS
PHYSIO-CHEMICAL
INDICATORS
TYPES OF ECOLOGICAL INDICATORSES
DISSOLVED OXYGEN
TEMPERATURE
pH
CONDUCTIVITY
TURBIDITY
MICROBIAL SYSTEM
PLANT SYSTEM
ANIMAL SYSTEM

6. DISSOLVED OXYGEN
Spawnig
Growth
• Measure of the amount of oxygen dissolved in the water.
• Fluctuates seasonally & even within 24hr period.
• Temperature dependent.
• Oxygen levels are lowest just before sunrise and highest
sometime in mid day.
• Cold water can hold more DO than warm water.
• Some species require high DO such as trout and stoneflies.
Source: Internet
Stressful
for fish
Too low Abundant fish

7. TEMPERATURE
• Important indicator
• Plays key role in climate change
• Decreases with increase in depth
• High temperature low DO
• Impacts water chemistry
• Species having an optimum water temperature
• With increase in temperature compounds become more toxic

8. pH
• Negative logarithm of the molar concentration of hydrogen ion.
• Determines solubility and biological availability of chemicals in
water.
• Measures the amount of free hydrogen ion in water.
• High acidity or alkalinity deteriorates water quality for both
aquatic and recreational purposes.
Source: Internet

9. CONDUCTIVITY
• The ability of a substance to conduct an electric current.
• Used as a quick way to locate potential water quality
problems.
• Increased by inorganic dissolved solids.
• Decreases by organic compounds.
• Constant so a change in conductivity may indicate an impact
to groundwater.
Other physio-chemical parameters are hardness, BOD, COD, TDS.

10. TURBIDITY
• Measure of clarity of water.
• Measurement of suspended and dissolved matter in water.
• More particulate matter in water, the higher the turbidity.
• If caused by suspended sediment, it can be an indicator of
erosion.
• Shallow groundwater typically more turbid than deep
groundwater.
Source: Internet

11. BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS
• Direct measures of the health of the fauna and flora in the
waterway.
• Chlorophyll-a as a measure of phytoplankton population
density.
• Different bio-indicators are sensitive to different types of
changes:
Increase or decrease in abundance
Presence or absence
Change in behaviour
Change physiologically or chemically

12. MICROBIAL SYSTEM
• The presence of some microorganisms is well correlated with
particular type of pollution and it serves as standard indicator
of pollution. e.g. E.coli
• Bioluminescent bacteria used to test water for environmental
toxins.
Source : The Indian Express, 2020
A beach in Chennai witnesses bioluminescence

13. DIFFERENT PLANTS AS ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
INDICATORS INDICATES
Lichens Air pollution
Chloritic flakes of
pine needle
Ozone damage
Eichhornia Sewage and heavy metal
pollution
Equisetum species Presence of gold in
the soil
Amaranthus,
chenopodium and
polygonum
Overgrazing
Algal bloom Water pollution
Lichens
chlorotic mottling of pine needle
Eichhornia crassipes
Source: Internet

14. Source: Internet

15. ANIMAL INDICATORS
• Frogs are considered accurate indicators of environmental
stress and the health of biosphere as a whole.
• Earthworm density and biomass are strongly influence by
contamination.
• Therefore the earth worm is used as bioindicator to determine
acute toxicity.
• Different types Beetle species found in a field – indicator of
biodiversity.

16. Source: WWF
Source: Internet
Frog
Butterfly

17. Butterfly Diversity in Paralakhemundi (Thangjam et
al.,2018)
• Investigation on species diversity and abundance of butterfly.
• Carried out in and around, Centurian University of Technology
and Management, Paralakhemundi campus Odisha.
• Sampling sites selected are forest ecosystem, agro-ecosystem and
horticultural ecosystem.
• A total of 45 species of butterfly were recorded during the study
from January-2017 to June-2018.
• Forest ecosystem is found to contain the highest no. of species
due to the presence of sufficient host plants and favorable climatic
conditions for the growth and development of butterflies.
Case study 1

18. Cleaning the river Damodar: impact of COVID-19
lockdown on water quality (Chakraborty et al., 2021)
• Damodar is originated from khamarpat hill of Jharkhand state,
India.
• Present study is confined between Panchet dam and Durgapur
barrage.
• Water samples were collected from 11 discharge sites of industrial
effluents in pre-lockdown and lockdown period (December 2019)
and again during lockdown period (July 2020) for the evaluation of
changes of water quality .
• All values of these physical parameters were higher than their
standard limit of permissible according to WHO (2011) guidelines
in pre-lockdown session and lower in lockdown session.
Case study 2

19. INDICATORS
PRE-LOCKDOWN
PERIOD
LOCKDOWN
PERIOD
pH (unit less) 7.04-8.21 6.12-7.72
TDS (mg/l) 665.6-806.4 480- 563.2
EC (µS/cm) 1040-1260 750-880
OBSERVATION
Source: Chakraborty et al, 2021
Spatial variation of river water pollution index (a) Pre-lockdown phase and (b) During
lockdown phase

20. SUMMARY
• Use to assess the health of an ecosystem and its resources.
• Non-scientists can use these data to make management decisions.
• Use to gain information about ecosystems and our impact on those
ecosystems.
• A collective term for stressor indicators, habitat response, and
exposure.
• The species may be difficult or time-consuming to survey.

21. REFERENCES
• Thangjam, R., Kadam, V., Hemochandra, L., D Ramalaxmi, V., Krishna,
G., & Patnaik, L. (2018). Studies on the diversity and abundance of
butterfly in and around CUTM, Paralakhemundi campus, Odisha
(India). Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies, 6, 2484-2491.
• Chakraborty, B., Roy, S., Bera, A., Adhikary, P. P., Bera, B., Sengupta,
D., ... & Shit, P. K. (2021)Cleaning the river Damodar (India): impact of
COVID-19 lockdown on water quality and future rejuvenation
strategies. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 1-15.
• Wicks, E. C., Longstaff, B. J., Fertig, B., & Dennison, W. C. (2010).
Ecological indicators–Assessing ecosystem health using
metrics. Integrating and Applying Science: A practical handbook for
effective coastal ecosystem assessment, 61-77.
• https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/mumbai-beach-blue-tide-
bioluminescence-explained-7070203/