Evaluating Insects as Bio-Indicators of Environmental Pollution : A Review
1Nibedita Maji and 2Dipanwita Sarkar (Paria)
Department of Zoology, Chandernagore College Chandernagore, Hooghly-712136 (India) Email: 55555nibedita@gmail.com 2Email: dipasarkarparia@rediffmail.com
ABSTRACT
In recent decades of environmental degradation, bio-indicators have been generating great interest in environmental pollution research. Actually the main goal of research on bio-indicators is to identify and know about the species that would successfully indicate environmental stress, not only that but they show the effects of disturbances on other species & the overall biodiversity. Insects are truly beneficial to determinate the effects of anthropogenic activities on the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem and atmosphere, because insects are in close contact with toxic elements present in soil, water and air. In this article we have highlighted the importance of the insects in monitoring of environmental pollution and assessment of pollutants. We have mainly focused on various insect groups as bio-indicators of change in air, water and soil quality. Some specific insects like Odonates, honeybees, ants & butterflies are used as bio-indicators in this study because they are very sensitive to even a slight change in environment and also they are used in monitoring of various environmental pollutants.