Assessing ecological risk on a regional scale |
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Authors: | Carolyn T Hunsaker Robin L Graham Glenn W Suter II Robert V O'Neill Lawrence W Barnthouse Robert H Gardner |
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Institution: | (1) Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P.O. Box 2008, 37831-6038 Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA |
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Abstract: | Society needs a quantitative and systematic way to estimate and compare the impacts of environmental problems that affect
large geographic areas. This paper presents an approach for regional risk assessment that combines regional assessment methods
and landscape ecology theory with an existing framework for ecological risk assessment. Risk assessment evaluates the effects
of an environmental change on a valued natural resource and interprets the significance of those effects in light of the uncertainties
identified in each component of the assessment process. Unique and important issues for regional risk assessment are emphasized;
these include the definition of the disturbance scenario, the assessment boundary definition, and the spatial heterogeneity
of the landscape.
Although the research described in this article has been funded wholly or in part by the United States Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) through Interagency Agreement Number DW89932112-01-2 to the U.S. Department of Energy, it has not been subjected
to EPA review and therefore does not necessarily reflect the views of EPA and no official endorsement should be inferred. |
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Keywords: | Regional risk Landscape ecology Impact analysis Environmental assessment |
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