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(80-65) Developing a scoping step for ecological risk assessment of contaminated sites: the role of the checklist. Critto, Andrea*,1, Carlon, Claudio2, Marcomini, Antonio1, 1 University of Venice Department of Environmental Sciences Calle Larga S. Marta 2137, Venice, Italy2 Consorzio Venezia Ricerche Via della Libertà 5/12, Marghera Venice, Italy ABSTRACT- The relevance of scoping in the ecological risk assessment (ERA) has been recently emphasized (CLARINET workshop, Netherlands, 2001). Here we propose a scoping for ERA consisting of a checklist which should be applied in the initial stage of the site characterisation. It is a screening tool for preliminary site evaluation and may also be useful in planning more extensive site investigations. The results of the checklist will serve to start with the collection and organisation of available information and appropriate ecological data to be used for developing a preliminary ecosystem description with special emphasis on the exposure to the contaminants. Moreover, the checklist can be a sound tool to support the communication with the control authority. The checklist includes sections corresponding to the ecosystem compartments of interest. According to a similar previous list proposed by US-EPA (1997), these sections are: Summary of Observations and Site Setting; (II) Terrestrial Habitat Checklist; (III) Aquatic Habitat Checklist: Non-Flowing Systems; (IV) Aquatic Habitat Checklist: Flowing Systems; (V) Wetlands Habitat Checklist. The full compilation of the checklist allows to define the preliminary ecosystem conceptual model that will guide the selection of relevant ecological receptors and main assessment endpoints. Two complementary diagrams describe the preliminary ecosystem conceptual model, the first one showing the ecosystem target species distributed over the different habitats, while the second diagram shows the exposure pathways and highlights the habitats that potentially exposed to the soil contamination. Key words: Ecological Risk Assessment, Contaminated sites, Scoping step, Ecological checklist |
