Ecological Risk Assessment
 A Tool for Environmental Management
As “end-of-the-pipe” pollutant releases have become better managed, attention has turned to the impacts of broader human activity on ecosystems, such as nonpoint source pollution, habitat alteration, and loss of biodiversity. Ecological risk assessments (ERAs) provide a process for determining the potential adverse effects of diverse impacts on plants and animals with the goal of facilitating more ecologically effective and cost-effective environmental management decisions. ERAs are used for compliance with a variety of regulations. These include:
- Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Recovery Act (CERCLA) or Superfund Act
- Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)
- Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
- Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)
 ERAs also have proven benefits in helping to pinpoint valued and vulnerable resources and to provide focal points for stakeholder cooperation.
Originally applied for compliance with regulations set by CERCLA or Superfund, FIFRA, RCRA, and the Toxic Substances Control Act, ecological risk assessments are now applied more broadly to provide the information needed for cost-effective environmental management decisions.
How PBS&J Helps
As regulators and industry develop new models and evaluate case studies, ERA methods continue to evolve. Experience can go a long way toward achieving desired results.
PBS&J has a long, successful history of predicting and assessing ecological risks and environmental impacts from a variety of sources to many types of organisms in a wide range of habitats. From assessing the risks to animals and plants at manufactured gas plant sites and landfills to assessing the risks of pesticide applications used to control the spread of West Nile Virus, PBS&J’s environmental scientists and engineers understand the ERA process from planning through completion.
 Because several sources of stress can affect multiple species in multiple habitats through several pathways, risk can be a complex concept. Starting with a conceptual model, we apply strategies aimed at identifying the key components of risk for each individual application. By applying our expertise and experience, we can propose cost- and timeeffective courses of risk management that simplify complex assessment and make them more understandable.
PBS&J's Risk Assessment Services
- Exposure analysis and toxicity assessments
- Population and bioaccumulation modeling
- Interpretation and communication of risk
- Integration of risk information for management decisions
- Analysis of multiple pathways and multiple stresses
- Habitat and stressor mapping using GIS
Related Services
- Human Health Risk Assessment
- 316(b) demonstrations
- Natural Resource Damage Assessment
- Habitat equivalency analysis and modeling
- Experimental design and analysis
- Groundwater modeling
- Wetlands creation and remediation
- Air emissions and dispersion modeling
- Water quantity and quality analyses
|
