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Full-Text Articles in Pharmacology, Toxicology and Environmental Health
Ecological Risk Assessment Should Be Value-Relevant But Not Value-Biased, Peter Calow, Valery E. Forbes
Ecological Risk Assessment Should Be Value-Relevant But Not Value-Biased, Peter Calow, Valery E. Forbes
Valery Forbes Publications
To be useful in informing environmental management decisions, ecological risk assessments (ERAs) need to be expressed in value-relevant terms (USEPA 2009). Making decisions about accepting more or less ecological resources for more or less economic and social gain depends upon public values. ERAs have been criticized for not delivering value-relevant results and for therefore not being useful as a basis for management decisions (Gibbs 2010). We agree that ERAs need to be value-relevant, but we also must be explicit about what constitutes science and what constitutes values in this process. In a recent editorial, Backhaus et al. (2010) discuss the …
The Effects Of Landscape Modifications On The Long-Term Persistence Of Animal Populations, Jacob Nabe-Nielsen, Richard M. Sibly, Mads C. Forchhammer, Valery E. Forbes, Christopher J. Topping
The Effects Of Landscape Modifications On The Long-Term Persistence Of Animal Populations, Jacob Nabe-Nielsen, Richard M. Sibly, Mads C. Forchhammer, Valery E. Forbes, Christopher J. Topping
Valery Forbes Publications
Background: The effects of landscape modifications on the long-term persistence of wild animal populations is of crucial importance to wildlife managers and conservation biologists, but obtaining experimental evidence using real landscapes is usually impossible. To circumvent this problem we used individual-based models (IBMs) of interacting animals in experimental modifications of a real Danish landscape. The models incorporate as much as possible of the behaviour and ecology of four species with contrasting life-history characteristics: skylark (Alauda arvensis), vole (Microtus agrestis), a ground beetle (Bembidion lampros) and a linyphiid spider (Erigone atra). This allows …
Environmentally Sensitive Life-Cycle Traits Have Low Elasticity: Implications For Theory And Practice, Valery E. Forbes, Mette Olsen, Annemette Palmqvist, Peter Calow
Environmentally Sensitive Life-Cycle Traits Have Low Elasticity: Implications For Theory And Practice, Valery E. Forbes, Mette Olsen, Annemette Palmqvist, Peter Calow
Valery Forbes Publications
The relationships between population growth rate and the life-cycle traits contributing to it are nonlinear and variable. This has made it difficult for ecologists to consistently predict changes in population dynamics from observations on changes in life-cycle traits. We show that traits having a high sensitivity to chemical toxicants tend to have a low elasticity, meaning that changes in them have a relatively low impact on population growth rate, compared to other life-cycle traits. This makes evolutionary sense in that there should be selection against variability in population growth rate. In particular, we found that fecundity was generally more sensitive …
Integrating Population Modeling Into Ecological Risk Assessment, Valery E. Forbes, Peter Calow, Volker Grimm, Takehiko Hayashi, Tjalling Jager, Annemette Palmqvist, Rob Pastorok, Dan Salvito, Richard Sibly, Julann Spromberg, John Stark, Richard A. Stillman
Integrating Population Modeling Into Ecological Risk Assessment, Valery E. Forbes, Peter Calow, Volker Grimm, Takehiko Hayashi, Tjalling Jager, Annemette Palmqvist, Rob Pastorok, Dan Salvito, Richard Sibly, Julann Spromberg, John Stark, Richard A. Stillman
Valery Forbes Publications
Current approaches to ecological risk assessment (ERA) are not sufficient to address environmental protection goals stated in current regulations in the European Union, North America and elsewhere. For example, the data used to estimate the likelihood of adverse ecological effects typically include responses of survival, growth, or reproduction of individuals measured under constant and typically favorable laboratory conditions. But these organism-level endpoints are far removed from the ecological features that the process aims to protect (i.e., the long-term persistence of populations of species in space and time under naturally varying field conditions and in the presence of other stressors). Ecological …
Improving The Value Of Standard Toxicity Test Data In Reach, Magnus Breitholtz, Elin Lundström, Ulrika Dahl, Valery E. Forbes
Improving The Value Of Standard Toxicity Test Data In Reach, Magnus Breitholtz, Elin Lundström, Ulrika Dahl, Valery E. Forbes
Valery Forbes Publications
Worldwide, environmental risk assessment strategies are based on the assumption that measuring direct effects of single substances, using a few single species tests, in combination with safety factors correcting for extrapolation inconsistencies, can be used to protect higher levels of biological organization, such as populations and even ecosystems. At the same time, we are currently facing a range of pollution problems (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Series 2005), of which some could at least indirectly be linked to the fact that this assumption may not be fully valid. Consequently, there is an ongoing scientific debate on whether current chemical control protocols are …
Investigation Of The Fate And Effects Of Acetyl Cedrene On Capitella Teleta And Sediment Bacterial Community, Lea Ellegaard-Petersen, Henriette Selck, Anders Priemé, Daniel Salvito, Valery E. Forbes
Investigation Of The Fate And Effects Of Acetyl Cedrene On Capitella Teleta And Sediment Bacterial Community, Lea Ellegaard-Petersen, Henriette Selck, Anders Priemé, Daniel Salvito, Valery E. Forbes
Valery Forbes Publications
The fate of the fragrance material, acetyl cedrene (AC), in sediment was examined in a 16 day laboratory experiment using the sediment microbial community subjected to the following treatments: AC (nominal concentration; 0 and 50 μg g−1 dw sediment) and macrofaunal worms (with/without Capitella teleta (formerly Capitella sp. I)). Furthermore effects of AC on microbial respiration in the system were determined by examining CO2 flux. T-RFLP (terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism) was used to analyze PCR (polymerase chain reaction) amplified 16S DNA gene fragments from the sediments to detect changes in the structure and diversity of the bacterial community. …