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Species selection for an ecological risk assessment of the Columbia River at the Hanford Site, Washington, USA
Author(s) -
Becker James,
Brandt Charles,
Dauble Dennis
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
environmental toxicology and chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1552-8618
pISSN - 0730-7268
DOI - 10.1002/etc.5620171128
Subject(s) - risk assessment , ecology , environmental resource management , site selection , environmental planning , environmental science , geography , biology , computer science , political science , computer security , law
We describe a two‐tier screening methodology used to select receptor species for an ecological risk assessment of the Columbia River at the Hanford Site in south‐central Washington state. This approach was developed and implemented under the guidance of the Columbia River Comprehensive Impact Assessment Management Team (CRCIA Team), a public steering committee comprised of members of regulatory agencies, native American tribes, and other stakeholders. Three hundred sixty‐eight species that occur in the riverine and riparian communities of the Columbia River were reduced to 52 using criteria identified by an independent panel of biologists (tier I) and by scoring and ranking species based on their potential exposure to contaminated media (tier II). This two‐tier screening methodology could be implemented at other locations where the number of species present must be reduced for an ecological risk assessment and where receptor species with relatively high potential contaminant exposures need to be evaluated. Participation of the CRCIA Team in the species selection process facilitated agreement between risk assessors, regulators, and stakeholders as to the number and kinds of organisms to be evaluated in our risk assessment. It is critical that regulators and stakeholders be involved in the selection of receptors to ensure that species of public interest as well as ecologically relevant species are evaluated in ecological risk assessments. This approach will increase the likelihood that such risk assessments will be used in management decisions.