TA9 Ecological Risk Assessment and Landscape Ecological Modeling
D137-140
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM, Tuesday
() Wildlife Habitat Considerations in Spatially-explicit Ecological Risk Assessments.
Kapustka, L1, Linkov, I2, Yocum, J1, 1 ecological planning and toxicology, inc., Corvallis, OR, USA2 Cambridge Environmental, Inc., Cambridge, MA, USA
ABSTRACT- Wildlife use patterns are influenced by the quality of habitat for the particular species. This in turn leads to differences in potential exposure to toxicants, particularly when the distribution of toxicants varies across a landscape of heterogeneous habitat features. Previously, we reported on an approach using Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) Models to describe the quality of the habitat for a number of terrestrial species. Habitat quality is being used to estimate likely occupancy or use of areas across a landscape. We will report on the status of our HSI database and the linkage of HSI values to RiskTrace, a software program that compiles predicted exposure levels for various polygons situated in a landscape.
Key words: landscape ecology, spatially-explicit risk assessment, habitat quality