How mathematical models integrate into ecological risk assessment

Andrew R. Kanarek, USEPA/GMU, Fairfax, VA

Background/Question/Methods
Ecological risk assessment focusing on impacts to individual organisms often leave uncertain the effects at higher levels of biological organization. To investigate such questions, ecological factors such as population and spatial structure should be addressed, and the choice of model structure and complexity justified, in order to be a suitable representation of reality so that environmental decisions can be made with reasonable confidence.
Results/Conclusions
In this presentation, we will explore the rationale along with a suite of tools for addressing the aforementioned challenges in developing population-level mathematical models for ecological risk assessment.