Introduction to Regional Scale Ecological Risk Assessment
Workshop in conjunction with the Society for Risk Analysis Annual Meeting
Wayne G. Landis
Institute of Environmental Toxicology
Western Washington University
Dr. Landis is the Director of the Institute of Environmental Toxicology and is one of the co-developers of the relative risk model for regional risk assessment. He has published and lectured extensively on regional scale risk assessment.
Suzanne Anderson
Institute of Environmental Toxicology
Western Washington University
Ms. Anderson is a Masters candidate at Western Washington University and is currently developing a risk assessment methodology for multiple stressors in large forests.
Synopsis
Risk assessment is a decision making tool based upon the quantification of the probabilities of effects (risks) upon ecological receptors. In this course we will outline the basics of landscape ecology and apply them using the relative risk model (RRM). Regional risk assessment requires the use of the tools of population dynamics and landscape ecology in an environment with multiple stressors and multiple receptors. The multiple stressors can be contaminants, changes in land use and habitat, dams, elevated temperature, the introduction of non-native species and the change in the patchiness of the environment. Regional risk assessment has been used to estimate risks due to contaminants in a watershed, the loss of productivity of a fishery, natural resource management, and the management of invasive species. First the course summarizes the basics of landscape thinking, especially the hierarchical patch dynamics paradigm. Next the course will cover the construction of conceptual models, the assignment of ranks, calculation of risk and estimating uncertainty. Examples of studies from North America, Australia, and Australia will be reviewed. Finally, communicating risks at the landscape or regional scale will be introduced. The last third of the class will involve teams evaluating examples of regional risk assessments applying the fundamentals of the relative risk model.
The Relative Risk Assessment Methods Manual is available to download as a pdf file. This manual has been extracted from the final report of the Port Valdez regional risk assessment. This document will provide the basic methodology for the relative risk method and the calculation of relative risks. Presentation slides and information about the case studies will be supplied as a CD as part of the course. Be sure to bring a laptop if you want to follow along on your computer.
Content Overview
1. Regional scale risk assessment, a history
2. Thinking at the landscape and regional scale
3. Normative Science, Multiple Stressors, Multiple Receptors, Multiple Endpoints
4. Introduction to the Relative Risk Model for Regional Risk Assessment (RRM)
5. The 10 steps of RRM
6. Communicating Risk at the regional scale
7. Five Scenarios and Conceptual Model Formulation
8. Summary and Final Discussion.
Registration
The registration fee is $300 by 10 November, or $325 on site. Youo do not need to register for the Annual Meeting to attend the workshop. Registration will be handled by:
Secretariat: sra@burkinc.com
Society for Risk Analysis www.sra.org
1313 Dolley Madison Boulevard, Suite 402
McLean, Virginia 22101 USA
Phone: 703.790.1745
Fax: 703.790.2672