Pubblicazione scientifica

Supporting Risk Assessment: Accounting for Indirect Risk to Ecosystem Components

FILONE TECNOLOGICO	TEMA
economia circolare e sostenibilità
produzione e cattura
produzione e raccolta

RIASSUNTO

The multi-scalar complexity of social-ecological systems makes it challenging to quantify impacts from human activities on ecosystems, inspiring risk-based approaches to assessments of potential effects of human activities on valued ecosystem components. Risk assessments do not commonly include the risk from indirect effects as mediated via habitat and prey. In this case study from British Columbia, Canada, we illustrate how such “indirect risks” can be incorporated into risk assessments for seventeen ecosystem components. We ask whether (i) the addition of indirect risk changes the at-risk ranking of the seventeen ecosystem components and if (ii) risk scores correlate with trophic prey and habitat linkages in the food web. Even with conservative assumptions about the transfer of impacts or risks from prey species and habitats, the addition of indirect risks in the cumulative risk score changes the ranking of priorities for management. In particular, resident orca, Steller sea lion, and Pacific herring all increase in relative risk, more closely aligning these species with their “at-risk status” designations. Risk assessments are not a replacement for impact assessments, but—by considering the potential for indirect risks as we demonstrate here—they offer a crucial complementary perspective for the management of ecosystems and the organisms within.

DATA

Data di pubblicazione: 15/09/2016

AUTORI

MURRAY CATHRYN CLARKE
MACH MEGAN E
MARTONE REBECCA G
SINGH GERALD G
O MIRIAM
CHAN KAI M A

ENTE DI AFFERENZA

INST RESOURCES ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY UNIV BRITISH COLUMBIA VANCOUVER BRITISH COLUMBIA CANADA
NORTH PACIFIC MARINE SCIENCE ORG PICES SIDNEY BRITISH COLUMBIA CANADA
CTR OCEAN SOLUTIONS MONTEREY CALIFORNIA USA
FISHERIES & OCEANS CANADA INST OCEAN SCIENCES SIDNEY BRITISH COLUMBIA CANADA
NORTHWEST FISHERIES SCIENCE CTR US

RIVISTA

PLoS ONE, 11(9), e0162932

IMPACT FACTOR

2,870

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