Advances in the ecological risk assessment of multiple stressors (original) (raw)

New approaches to the ecological risk assessment of multiple stressors

Marine and Freshwater Research, 2016

So as to assess how emerging science and new tools can be applied to study multiple stressors at a large (ecosystem) scale and to facilitate greater integration of approaches among different scientific disciplines, a workshop was organised on 10–12 September 2014 at the Sydney Institute of Marine Sciences, Sydney, Australia. The present paper discusses the limitations of the current risk-assessment approaches and how multiple stressors at large scales can be better evaluated in ecological risk assessments to inform the development of more efficient and preventive management policies based on adaptive management in the future. A future risk-assessment paradigm that overcomes these limitations is presented. This paradigm includes cultural and ecological protection goals, the development of ecological scenarios, the establishment of the relevant interactions among species, potential sources of stressors, their interactions and the development of cause–effect models. It is envisaged tha...

Ecological risk assessment on the system scale: A review of state-of-the-art models and future perspectives

This paper reviews state-of-the-art models developed for ecological risk assessment and presents a system-oriented perspective for holistic risk evaluation and management. Ecological risk assessment (ERA), which is aimed at appraising a wide range of undesirable impacts on ecosystems exposed to a possible eco-environmental hazard, has been highly recommended for environmental decision-making. The existing system-based eco-risk models at different levels of hierarchical organization are reviewed, including food web-based models, ecosystem-based models and socio-ecological models are reviewed. Based on this inspection, an integrated framework characterizing problem formulation, risk characterization and risk assessment is depicted to illumine future ecological risk assessments. The possibility of integrating the various ERA modeling systems is addressed through examining the interconnections between models shown within the context of our diagrams. Furthermore, some refinements of the current system-level techniques are proposed to meet the requirements of risk evaluation in a holistic and regulatory context. We conclude that assessing ecological risk by using system-based models at different levels of organization in a combined way is an evolutionary step for the application of risk evaluation in environmental management.