Umweltindikatoren für Immissionswirkungen

“In contrast to other fields of politics, a few, minor measurements (indicators) are still lacking in the environmental policies which enable one to evaluate the environmental situation and to consequently take over a major role in political discussions” (BMU 1998). There are a multitude of suggestions for such environmental indicators on both a national and an international level. To date, however, there are still no indicators through which the ecological effects of biosphere pollution can be evaluated. This work provides two examples how biomonitoring data can be connected to environmental indicators. Based on the background concentrations of a multitude of heavy metals and dioxins/furans in two individual bioindicators (standardized grass and kale cultures), which have been combined to act as indicators for the topic in question, indices have been calculated through the determination of reference values. The results are indicators for the pollution effects of traffic-related emissions, the pollution effects from the emissions of fossil fuels and the pollution effects of dioxins and furanes. These indicators may still be combined further through the methods of calculation which are described. The further, methodical development of bioindicators, however, turned out to be problematic. Only data whose survey methods have been standardized to such an extent that the results are comparable with each other over longer periods of time can be combined to represent indicators: an inalienable requirement for the presentation of trends.