MACROBENTHOS: BIO-INDICATORS OF AQUATIC POLLUTION AND ECOSYSTEM HEALTH- A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Marine ecosystem is facing the threat of degradation due toclimate change, eutrophication, physical damage, and pollution. Use ofindicator species is a simple, reliable, and effective method to monitor and assess the ecological environment. Due to the sensitivity of indicator species to environmental changes and pollution, they are widely used to monitor environmental changes. Macrobenthos are bottom-dwelling aquatic organisms larger than 0.5 mm, such asworms, molluscs, and crustaceans, that serve as reliable biological indicators of water and sediment quality. Due to their abundance and ease of collection, different tolerance levels, longer life cycles, and sedentary lifestyle; macrobenthos are serving as an ideal bio-indicator of environmental quality, in particular aquatic pollution and ecosystem health. Due to their sedentary lifestyle seafloor, they cannot escape local pollution, reflecting spatial changes in their immediate habitat. Their relatively long lifespan enables them to record and integrate the effects of long-term environmental stress over time. Different species of macrobenthos possess distinct sensitivities to pollutants; as a result, sensitive species die off under stress, while opportunistic or tolerant ones thrive. Also, they are widespread, numerous, and large enough to be easily sampled and identified without complex microscopic tracking.