| Abstract
| - Online biomonitors register biological effects of toxicdischarges on selected indicator species and allow forfast,continuous, and ecological relevant water quality control.This paper presents a new online biomonitor based onaquadropole impedance conversion technique that recordssimultaneously several behavioral parameters ofGammaruspulex, a new biomonitoring test species. Thebehaviorof two different populations of G. pulex was compared;onepopulation originated from an anthropogenically unpollutedstream, and the other population lived at thecopper-polluted study site, where the biomonitor wasplaced. Responses to simulated copper pollution peaksof 70 μg of Cu2+/L were registered in the biomonitorandcompared to the natural drift. G. pulex was themostabundant species in the natural drift. A nocturnaldriftmaximum was found in the natural drift and for bothpopulations in the biomonitor. Mortality was high in thebiomonitor;the local population survived slightly better than thereference population. The reference population showedsignificantly less activity than the local populationmeasured as number of active organisms per day and timespent on locomotion and ventilation. Copper pollutionpulses provoked increases in number of active organismsand time spent on locomotion in the biomonitor; however,no significant changes in the natural drift wereregistered.
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