For the purpose of this article, I will be referring to the conversion of existing buildings of a different use to self-storage. These buildings may include retail stores, office buildings, schools, hotels, industrial buildings, and miscellaneous properties such as abandoned bus stations, underground parking lots, etc.
Bioassays: Background Information. A bioassay involves use of a biological organism to test for chemical toxicity. Perhaps the oldest and most commonly known example is the canary in the coal mine. Traditionally, coal miners have taken caged canaries down into the mines to help ensure a safe air supply.
Since bioassays test the effect of a medium on an organism, these effects need to be measured in a consistent manner. Most bioassay tests have more than one endpoint (Table 2). For example; mortality is a common endpoint used for water, soil, and sediment bioassays.