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IBR
Cu
VP
VP
5
80
60
40
20
0
3
1
0
IL
IL
PC
PC
ES
ES
PCB
PAH
VP
VP
1
0.5
0.5
0.3
0.1
0.0
0
IL
PC
IL
PC
ES
ES
FIGURE 2.3
Integrated biomarker response (IBR) and pollutant star plots: IBR, copper, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon
( PA H μg · g
−1
), and polychlorobiphenyl (PCB μg · g
−1
) star plots in mussels
Mytilus galloprovincialis
transplanted
in spring 2004 at four sites in the Bay of Cannes (NW Mediterranean Sea, France): VP (old harbor), PC (Canto
harbor), ES (mouth of the Siagne River), and IL (Lérins Island). (Adapted from Damiens, G. et al.,
Chemosphere
,
66, 574-583, 2007.)
contribute to IBR, demonstrating that the chosen biomarkers did not respond to PAHs. In
2005, IBR (not presented in Figure 2.3) showed that other contaminants, not measured by
the authors, might be present at exposed stations compared to the reference station.
According to Broeg and Lehtonen (2006), due to its mathematical basis, the IBR becomes
more robust when the number of biomarkers increases. However, according to Guerlet
(2007), several inconveniences can limit the use of this tool: a potentially significant influ-
ence of the order of the biomarkers on the value of the IBR, the impossibility of its applica-
tion without
a priori
information on the stress gradient because of the fluctuating character
of the types of responses of biomarkers (inhibition or antagonism), and overestimation of
the stress as a result of redundancy of the responses integrated into the IBR.
Yeom and Adams (2007) have developed an aquatic ecosystem health index, based on
the sum of all star-plot areas over several levels of biological organization to reflect an inte-
grative and holistic assessment of stressors on ecosystem health and identify those levels
of biological organization that have the greatest response to environmental stressors.
Dagnino et al. (2007) proposed an expert system that utilizes a suite of biomarker tests
measured in marine mussels to translate complex biological responses into a relatively
simple, easy to understand, and objective evaluation of the changes in the physiology of
an organism induced by pollutants. Their classification was developed using a battery of
nine biomarkers at different levels of biological organization, cell, tissue, and organism.
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