Coastal and Estuarine Risk Assessment - Chapter 1 potx

©2002 CRC Press LLC

Overview of Ecological

Risk Assessment in Coastal

and Estuarine Environments

Morris H. Roberts, Jr., Michael C. Newman,

and Robert C. Hale

CONTENTS

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Application of Risk Assessment in Estuaries

1.2.1 Water Quality Criteria

1.2.2 Sediment Quality Guidelines

1.2.3 Toxics Characterization

1.2.4 Relative Risk Assessment

1.2.5 A Case Study of Risk Assessment in an Estuary

1.3 Forum Organization

References

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Ecological risk assessment is a logical process for objectively defining the probability

of an adverse effect to an organism or collection of organisms when challenged with

an environmental modification such as climatic change, xenobiotic exposure, infec￾tion with a disease organism, or some other potential stressor. The link between the

parameter producing the effect (i.e., the stressor) and the organism(s) responding

(i.e., the receptor) is accessible mainly by inference in the absence of full and detailed

knowledge. Long used in economics and health sciences, risk assessment has a

shorter history of application to ecological systems and even a shorter history for

estuarine and coastal systems.

The risk assessment paradigm in general, and in ecological risk assessment in

particular, involves (1) problem formulation, (2) parallel analyses of exposure and

effects, and (3) risk characterization1–5 (Figure 1.1). Each aspect of the paradigm

involves an integrative process connecting various inputs or data to one or more

outputs or conclusions. Initial assessments are often imprecise, pointing to data needs

1