Environmental Risk Assessment
ENVR 490/590 Capstone 2012

Paper Form and Function

The paper should be no more than 10 typewritten 1.5 line-spaced pages including figures and graphs but not including references. Margins should be 1 inch all around. Fonts should be 10-12 in size and can be arial, times, times new roman, helvetica or geneva. References should be cited in the literature as in the example below. All material not your own requires a citation and in the case of this paper almost every fact should have a reference. References should be prepared as in the examples provided, incorrect citations will result in the paper being returned to the author and classified as late.

Textbooks are not suitable primary literature sources and should not be cited. However, there are many other books that discuss risk assessment, toxicology, environmental management and ecology that may be used as sources.

It is important that figures and tables be clearly presented and the source of the information in them cited. The style of figures and tables should be consistent with that seen in journals such as Environmental Science and Technology, Risk Analysis, Human and Ecological Risk Assessment and Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.

Be sure to add the citations for the figures to the reference section of the paper. Unless you created the figure it must be cited.

Sample Text

It is clear that there is a growing interest in developing tools for assessing the risks due to non-indigenous or invasive species.  The recently published series of papers in Risk Analysis demonstrates this interest (Anderson et al. 2004a, 2004b).  The papers have covered a variety of topics.  Landscape factors that promoted the establishment of invasive species were investigated by Marvier et al. (2004), Neubert and Parker (2004) and With (2004).  In risk assessment terminology these would correspond to the exposure and persistence of the stressors section of the analysis.  Landis (2004) presented a generalized conceptual model for the risk assessment of invasive species that included landscape structure and other stressors as confounding elements.  Bartell and Nair (2004) presented the most complete risk analysis with most of the major components present.  Maguire (2004) provided an example of decision making for the control of invasive species by using Hawaiian feral pigs as a case study.  The bioeconomics of controlling  invasive species with barrier zones was discussed by Sharov (2004).  These diverse papers demonstrate that the risk assessment of  invasive species is a developing area in risk assessment with implications for ecological systems, human health and in the arena of intentional introductions to produce economic, health and ecological impacts.  

References-Citations

Munns WR Jr, Beyer WN, Landis WG, Menzie C. 2002. What is a population? SETAC Globe 3:29–31.

Obery AM, Landis WG. A regional multiple stressor risk assessment of the Codorus Creek watershed applying the relative risk model. Hum Ecol Risk Assess 8:405–428.

Environmental Protection Agency. EPA/630/P-02/004F.

Stark JD, Banks JE, Roger V. 2004. How risky is risk assessment: The role that life  history strategies play in susceptibility of species to stress. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 101:732–736.

Wu J, David JL. 2002. A spatially explicit hierarchical approach to modeling complex ecological systems: Theory and applications. Ecol Model 153:7–26.

Wu J, Loucks OL. 1995. From balance of nature to hierarchical patch dynamics: A  paradigm shift in ecology. Q Rev Biol 70:439–466.

Suggested Topics for Review Papers

Here are some broad and some not so broad topic suggestions for papers. Be sure to narrow the scope down so that it is within the guidelines that have been provided.

• Public Mandate for Ecological Risk Assessment
• Development of Risk Assessment Guidelines
• Ecological Significance
• Making decisions using ecological risk assessment
• Ecological Risks of Genetically Engineered or Modified Organisms
• Public Perception of Ecological Structures and how that affects risk assessment
• Uncertainty in Ecological Risk Assessment
• Landscape Risk Assessments
• Population ecology and ecological risk assessment
• Integrating Ecological and Human Health risk assessment
• The Communication of Risk to Stakeholders
• Precautionary Principal versus Risk Assessment
• Risk assessment for invasive species
• Risk Communication for Stakeholders
• Risk Communication for Decision Makers

 

There are also a number of related areas as well, please check with me before proceeding with a topic outside this list.