The Use of Toxicity Testing in Marine Environmental Research

The indicator organism concept is applied most narrowly when single organisms or groups of organisms from field collections are used to test the effects of specific substances or environmental factors to which they, as “representatives of a community or ecosystem”, might be subjected. Toxicity tests frequently use these indicator organisms in experiments to test the effect of a substance under controlled laboratory conditions. The terms “toxicity test” and “bioassay” have often been used interchangeably, but they are not equivalent terms. “Bioassay” refers to an experiment in which the potency of a chemical to an organism is measured as compared to a standard. This test is used frequently in the pharmaceutical industry. “Toxicity test”, on the other hand, measures the effect of a chemical or factor on a living organism. The term “toxicity test” will be used in this review.