PARENT SESSION
PW10 - Ecological Risk Assessment
Wednesday, 20 November 2002
8:00 AM to 6:30 PM
Exhibit Hall
(P823) Calculating HSI values for polygons of different cover types for use in Ecological Risk Assessment.
Kapustka, Lawrence*,1, Galbraith, Hector2, Luxon, Matthew3, Yocum, Joan1, 1 ecological planning and toxicology, inc., Corvallis, OR, USA2 Galbraith Environmental Sciences, Boulder, CO, USA3 Windward Environmental LLC, Seattle, WA, USA
ABSTRACT- Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) Models have been used to describe the quality of the habitat for a number of terrestrial species. Each model differs somewhat in terms of complexity and the parameters required to calculate the HSI value. We have developed an approach to use HSI values to modify wildlife exposure estimates. To do so, we have extracted essential information from nearly 90 HSI models of terrestrial and wetland species. This information has been packaged into executable equations using Excel. We will illustrate (1) the steps required to acquire spatially explicit data on landscape cover types, (2) the incorporation of such data into the various Models, and (3) the summation of HSIs for different species for each polygon. Species having different foraging ranges will be used to address questions of mapping resolution and sampling considerations. . Application of this approach will be demonstrated using case studies.
Key words: Habitat Quality, HSI, Ecological Risk Assessment, Landscape Ecology