Abstract
Incorporation of ecological concepts within ecotoxicological risk assessment procedures has been delayed partly because of a lag in the availability of appropriate ecological theory and partly because of the technical difficulty of penetrating procedures that are now well established and built into legal frameworks of pollutant regulation and control. This chapter explores, using simple modelling and case examples, the form that the case for taking more note of ecological arguments would have to take if general revisions to the procedures of ecotoxicological risk assessment were to be undertaken. It provides clear evidence of the potential benefits through reductions in the numbers of erratic risk assessments and improvements in our ability to manage chemical pollutants. An alteration in the form that risk assessment takes towards a more probabilistic evaluation of the likelihood that adverse effects may occur at the population level is, however, needed before ecological insights are more widely accepted.
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Jepson, P.C., Sherratt, T.N. (1996). The dimensions of space and time in the assessment of ecotoxicological risks. In: Baird, D.J., Maltby, L., Greig-Smith, P.W., Douben, P.E.T. (eds) ECOtoxicology: Ecological Dimensions. Chapman & Hall Ecotoxicology Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1541-1_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1541-1_5
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