The definitive reference in its field, Ecological Risk Assessment, Second Edition details the latest advances in science and practice. In the fourteen years since the publication of the best-selling first edition, ecological risk assessment (ERA) has moved from the margins into the spotlight. It is now commonly applied to the regulation of c

Recently, environmental scientists have been required to perform a new type of assessment-ecological risk assessment. This is the first book that explains how to perform ecological risk assessments and gives assessors access to the full range of useful data, models, and conceptual approaches they need to perform an accurate assessment. It explains how ecological risk assessment relates to more familiar types of assessments. It also shows how to organize and conduct an ecological risk assessment, including defining the source, selecting endpoints, describing the relevant features of the receiving environment, estimating exposure, estimating effects, characterizing the risks, and interacting with the risk manager. Specific technical topics include finding and selecting toxicity data; statistical and mathematical models of effects on organisms, populations, and ecosystems; estimation of chemical fate parameters; modeling of chemical transport and fate; estimation of chemical uptake by organisms; and estimation, propagation, and presentation of uncertainty. Ecological Risk Assessment also covers conventional risk assessments, risk assessments for existing contamination, large scale problems, exotic organisms, and risk assessments based on environmental monitoring. Environmental assessors at regulatory agencies, consulting firms, industry, and government labs need this book for its approaches and methods for ecological risk assessment. Professors in ecology and other environmental sciences will find the book's practical preparation useful for classroom instruction. Environmental toxicologists and chemists will appreciate the discussion of the utility for risk assessment of particular toxicity tests and chemical determinations.

Love Canal. Exxon Valdez. Times Beach. Sacramento River Spill. Amoco Cadiz. Seveso. Every area of the world has been affected by improper waste disposal and chemical spills. Common hazardous waste sites include abandoned warehouses, manufacturing facilities, processing plants, and landfills. These sites poison the land and contaminate groundwater and drinking water. A sequel to the bestselling Ecological Risk Assessment, Ecological Risk Assessment for Contaminated Sites focuses on how to perform ecological risk assessments for Superfund sites and locations contaminated by improper disposal of wastes, or chemical spills. It integrates the authors' extensive experience in assessing ecological risks at U.S. government sites with techniques and examples from assessments performed by others. Conducting an ecological risk assessment on a contaminated site provides the information needed to make decisions concerning site remediation. The first rule of good risk assessment is "don't do anything stupid". With the practical preparation you get from Ecological Risk Assessment for Contaminated Sites you won't.

An important guide to assessing and managing the environment from a landscape perspective Ecological relationships are nested within the landscape. Identifying the relevant spatial and temporal scales is critical for an effective understanding of ecological functions that human societies depend upon. Moreover, human encroachment into natural areas, or changes in climate, can alter spatial relationships, which in turn can negatively affect vital plant and wildlife patterns—and weaken economic structures needed to sustain human societies. This book is the first to combine multiple disciplines into one cohesive strategy to study these crucial connections, and looks toward building a social paradigm that embraces the dynamics of ecological systems. This book: Integrates landscape ecology, environmental risk assessment, valuation of ecological goods and services, and environmental management decision processes into one single source Includes chapters on quantitative measures, Bayesian modeling,¿economic analysis, and sustainable landscapes Covers marine, forest, agricultural, and pharmaceutical risk assessment Has a chapter on predicting climate change risk to ecosystems Has a companion ftp site with color graphics, animations, and risk assessment tools With material that is accessible across all knowledge levels, Environmental Risk Assessment and Management from a Landscape Perspective moves beyond looking solely at chemical contaminants to diagnose environmental threats, and aims to accomplish practical risk assessment in a manner that supports long-term sustainable management.