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NEW APPROACHES IN RISK ANALYSIS OF ENVIRONMENTAL STRESSORS TO HUMAN AND ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS
Citation:
OrmeZavaleta, J AND T G. Pfleeger. NEW APPROACHES IN RISK ANALYSIS OF ENVIRONMENTAL STRESSORS TO HUMAN AND ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS. Presented at Society of Risk Analysis meeting, Palm Springs, CA, December 5-8, 2004.
Description:
We explore the application of novel techniques for improving and integrating risk analysis of environmental stressors to human and ecological systems. Environmental protection decisions are guided by risk assessments serving as tools to develop regulatory policy and other related guidance. Environmental risk assessments have traditionally been conducted to address risks posed to either human or environmental health. They are now evolving to characterize the human-environment relationship. Techniques for analyzing risk have been considered inadequate due to a lack of understanding of the problem and an appropriate analytic-deliberative process clarifying the meaning of analytic findings and uncertainty. Thus, new integrative risk analysis tools are needed that are responsive to more complex environmental problems. In this presentation, two new community modeling techniques along with a geographic information systems (GIS) based tool will be discussed. The modeling techniques are applied to the issue of emerging infectious disease, focusing on two different vector-borne diseases that are associated with complex ecological communities as an example of integrating ecological and human health risk analysis. The GIS tool to be discussed features a method developed for the conterminous United States that uses information on crop location, crop diversity, herbicide use rates and wind speed to determine high risk areas. These factors can then be used to determine relevant species for various exposure scenarios.