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WILDLIFE RESEARCH STRATEGY
Citation:
US EPA, 2. WILDLIFE RESEARCH STRATEGY. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/R-04/050 (NTIS PB2005-110711), 2005.
Impact/Purpose:
to provide a strategy for conducting wildlife effects research within the U.S. EPA's National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory
Description:
This document describes a strategy for conducting wildlife effects research within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys (EPA) National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory (NHEERL). The NHEEL wildlife research strategy is designed to address critical research areas and produce methods, models, and findings that will provide scientifically-credible approaches for the EPA Program and Regional Offices, and States and Tribes to conduct wildlife population risk assessments and to develop associated criteria. Consistent with the EPA's ecological risk assessment guidelines, the research strategy is designed to improve problem formulation, effect characterization, and risk characterization steps. Within this context, the strategy supports a tiered approach to wildlife risk assessment and criteria development where a series of assessments are arrayed from most general and broadly based (screening level) to most realistic, accurate and situation-specific (definitive level). While the sustainability of wildlife populations remains the assessment endpoint of concern throughout the tiered approach, increasingly accurate and realistic models and data are needed in higher tier risk assessments to narrow the band of uncertainty around the estimate of risk. The NHEERL strategy proposes development of a suite of methods and models, with increasing realism and accuracy, which will first concentrate on lower-tier risk assessment and criteria needs followed by research that provides techniques and approaches for higher tier applications. The proposed research will provide increasingly sophisticated methods and models for avian, amphibian and mammalian wildlife risk assessments and criteria development. Further development of this research strategy, and its ultimate implementation, requires further interaction with the Agency's Program Offices and Regions and collaboration within ORD and with other Federal partners to fully meet the projected goals.