Biomarkers for the Detection of Pollutants from the Water Environment

The environment comprises both living and nonliving components, and their interplay dictates the health and sustenance of the environment. Emergent properties from this interaction, various by-products are released directly or indirectly into the environment. Water environments are very dynamic, and their composition is based on the inputs they receive from the land which may be directly or indirectly discharged into it. These pollutants may be in various forms such as solid, liquid, and gases and may be composed of chemicals or from biological processes. They are capable of imposing stress on the water environment thereby affecting ubiquitous and migratory organisms dwelling in it. Organisms have different tolerable ranges to these pollutants as some may migrate or die in extreme cases. Some of these pollutants are capable of bio-accumulating in water organisms, thereby causing health issues along the higher levels in the food chain. Approaches such as biomarkers and the use of molecular approaches can be used for the detection of these pollutants in water. Some of the biomarker approaches include the use of macrophytes, plankton, fishes, aquatic reptiles, amphibians, arthropods, benthic organisms, aquatic mammals, aquatic reptiles, and micro-organisms. Similarly, the biomarker responses to stress such as the responses to chemical, nonchemical, histological, and Histopathological approaches are processes that can be used in pollution detection in water environments. The use of biomarkers has numerous importance, and its prospects are enormous. It can be applied in ecotoxicology and molecular biology, in the proteogenomic approach as the coming biomarker, in genotoxicity (DNA damage and micronucleus formation), and reproductive impairments. Despite these advantages, there are several limitations associated with biomarkers in pollution detection in the aquatic environment, and the issue of sustainable use of biomarkers for the detection of pollutants in the freshwater and marine ecosystem is crucial. To this end, this paper reviews the use of biomarkers for pollution detection in water environments, stress responses, biomarker tools, perspectives, and the limitations in the use and sustainable use of biomarkers in pollution detection in water environments.