Ecological risk assessment monitoring

Suter II, G.W. (2001). Apphcabihty of indicator monitoring to ecological risk assessment. Ecological Indicators, 1, 101-112. 

As mentioned before, the ecological risk assessment is characterized by a problem formulation process, analysis containing characterizations of exposure and effects, and a risk characterization process. Several outlying boxes serve to emphasize the importance of discussions during the problem formulation process between the risk assessor and the risk manager, and the critical nature of the acquisition of new data, verification of the risk assessment, and monitoring. The next few sections detail each aspect of this framework. 

Schematic of the framework for ecological risk assessment (U.S. EPA1992). Especially important is the interaction between exposure and hazard and the inclusion of a data acquisition, verification, and monitoring component. Multivariate analyses will have a major impact on the selection or assessment and measurement endpoints and will play a major role in the data acquisition, verification, and monitoring phase.

Other important companion activities to ecological risk assessment include data acquisition and verification and monitoring studies. New data are frequently required to conduct analyses that are performed during the risk assessment. Data from verification studies can be used to validate the predictions of a specific risk assessment as well as to evaluate the usefulness of... 

Figure 1 also indicates a role for verification and monitoring in the framework. Verification can include validation of the ecological risk assessment process as well as confirmation of specific predictions made during a risk assessment. Monitoring can aid in the verification process and may identify additional topics for risk assessment. Verification and monitoring can help determine the overall effectiveness of the framework approach, provide necessary feedback concerning the need for future modifications of the framework, help evaluate the effectiveness and practicality of policy decisions, and point out the need for new or improved scientific techniques (U.S. EPA, in press-a). 

In addition, based on the discussions between the risk assessor and risk manager, follow-on activities to the risk assessment may be identified, including monitoring, studies to verify the predictions of the risk assessment, or the collection of additional data to reduce the uncertainties in the risk assessment. While a detailed discussion of the risk management process is beyond the scope of this report, consideration of the basic principles of ecological risk assessment described here will contribute to a final product that is both credible and germane to the needs of the risk manager. 

The primary focus of this study was to address the basic question - How consistent are the radionuchde concentrations in bee samples If one of the primary objectives is to eventually use data collected from honey bees as part of an environmental monitoring program, or more importantly, as input into an ecological risk assessment model, then one would hope there is a certain degree of consistency between samples. In other words, if 25 samples were collected from a beehive, and each one was analyzed for tritium, one would assume there would be relative consistency between the radiochemical analytical results. A large disparity in the concentrations of tritium in bee samples would make the results suspect. In this study, first the consistency of bee samples collected from a single colony was examined. Second, the consistency of samples collected from several colonies in the same location was assessed. 

Potapov 1.1. Krapivin Y.F. and Soldatov V.Yu. (2006). Risk assessment in the geoinformation monitoring regime. Ecological Systems and Devices, 8, 11-18 [in Russian],... 

Accurate and precise identifications and measurements of specific chemical substances are fundamental to environmental studies and protection programs. Determinations are required to understand natural background concentrations of chemicals in the environment, the nature and extent of environmental pollution by anthropogenic chemicals, trends in concentrations of these substances, the transport and fate of chemical substances, and the causes of variations of concentrations intime and space. Accurate and precise determinations are also required to assess human health and ecological risks caused by exposure to natural and anthropogenic substances, establish air and water quality standards, develop pollution control strategies, evaluate the effectiveness of pollution prevention and treatment technologies, and monitor compliance with and the effectiveness... 

Suter, G.W. (1998) Retrospective assessment, ecoepidemiology and ecological monitoring. Handbook of Environmental Risk Assessment and Management, Calow, P. (ed.), pp. 170-217. Blackwell Science, Oxford. 

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