Can we optimize biomonitoring?

Biomonitoring is an element of environmental management that must become more sophisticated to meet the demands of legislation and public concern for environmental safety. Data collection and analysis techniques must improve if environmental scientists are to take full advantage of the information content of field and laboratory biomonitoring efforts. Issues associated with biomonitoring, which we address, include test system selection and the data characteristics of various biomonitoring techniques. We identify optimization as a possible approach to resolving conflicts between legal defensibility, scientific accuracy, and the requirements of environmental managers.