Environmental Sciences
Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville
ENSC 595
Ecological Risk Assessment
Summer Semester, 2004
Monday 6:00 - 10:30 pm (SL 0226)
Course Instructors:
Dr. Kevin A. Johnson, SL 3316 650-5934,
kevjohn@siue.edu
Office Hours:
After
class or by appointment
Course Description:
Ecological
risk assessment is a process for collecting, organizing, and analyzing
information to estimate the likelihood of undesired effects on nonhuman
organisms, populations, or ecosystems. The primary purpose for conducting
such assessments is to provide information needed to make decisions concerning
site remediation. The course presents a conceptual approach and specific
methods for assessing the ecological risks posed by contaminated sites. We will work through the individual steps for
understanding, and then apply the concepts to real ecological risk assessment
case studies.
Course Objectives:
By
the end of the course, students should be able to answer the following questions
(taken from the text):
What exactly are we trying to protect and to what
extent should it be protected?
How do the data relate to the endpoint?
How are the biota exposed to the pollutant?
What aspects of the assessment are uncertain, how
uncertain are we, and how does that uncertainty influence the risk?
Are there alternate assessment approaches or models
that might supplement my preferred approach, thereby potentially increasing
confidence in the validity of the results?
Text:
J. W. Suter II, R. A. Efroymson, B. E. Sample, and D. S. Jones. 2000. Ecological Risk Assessment for
Contaminated Sites. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.
Some
useful links can be found at:
EPA
Ecological Risk Guidance http://www.epa.gov/nceawww1/ecorsk.htm
Case Studies:
Waquoit Watershed: An Ecological Risk Assessment
Case Study (Waquoit Bay is a shallow Cape Cod estuary fed, by groundwater
and freshwater streams). http://www.epa.gov/ncea/waquoit.htm
Mid-Snake
River: An Ecological Risk Assessment Case Study (Covers the middle reach of the
Snake River which runs about 100 Km from Milner Dam to King Hill). http://www.epa.gov/ncea/midsnake.htm
Middle
Platte River Watershed: An Ecological Risk Assessment Case Study (The Platte
River flows eastward across Nebraska providing water for irrigation, electric
power, recreation, fish, wildlife, and water supplies). http://www.epa.gov/ncea/midplatt.htm
Clinch
River Watershed: An Ecological Risk
Assessment Case Study (The Clinch River above Norris Lake is one of the largest
free – flowing segments of the Tennessee River Drainage basin). http://www.epa.gov/ncea/clinch.htm
There
will be additional handouts as needed throughout the semester.
Preparation/Prerequisites:
Consent of instructor(s).
Organization:
The
class will be held once a week. There
will be lectures, presentations, critiques, and discussions for three hours,
followed by one and a half hours for groups to work on their projects.
Grading:
The
course grade will be weighted as follows:
Participation 20%
Critical
analysis of articles 15%
Written
assignments (10)
Discussions
(5)
Case Study 20%
Synopsis
(15)
Discussion
(5)
Ecological
Risk Assessments 30%
Presentation
(10)
Discussion
(5)
Paper
(15)
Quizes/Exams 15%
If you have questions regarding the grading of a
particular assignment, please see us as soon as possible to discuss the
matter. We reserve the right to re-grade
the entire assignment. No points will be
awarded or grades changed one week after an assignment has been handed back to
the class. Unless arrangements are made
with the instructor prior to the due date, late assignments will be marked down
10% a day beginning at the end of the class period in which it was due (e.g.
9:01pm on the date its due = ‑ 10%).
Attendance:
Attendance is essential for success in this
class. If excessive absenteeism occurs,
percentage points will be deducted from the overall grade. If you miss a class, work with your fellow
students to obtain notes for the missed lectures. Only University approved absences will be
accepted for missing class (however, it is strongly discouraged and frowned
upon).
Students with
disabilities:
Persons with documented
disabilities should visit the Disability Support Services Office, located in
Peck Hall, room 1311, at their earliest convenience to meet the director and
discuss available services. The student
should also, make an appointment with the instructor as soon as possible to
discuss any special arrangements.
Policy Statement: Academic
Misconduct by Students
Faculty
members retain their traditional authority to take disciplinary action in the
event of academic misconduct. Acts of
academic misconduct for which students are subject to sanctions include,
without limitation, plagiarism, cheating, failure or refusal to follow clinical
practice standards, falsifying or manufacturing scientific or scholarly
experiments or research, and soliciting, aiding, abetting, concealing, or
attempting such acts.
Plagiarism
is defined as including, without limitation, the act of representing the work
of another as one’s own. Plagiarism may
consist of copying, paraphrasing, or otherwise using written or oral work of
another without proper acknowledgment of the source or presenting oral or
written material prepared by another as one’s own.
In the event of academic misconduct, the instructor
may request the Student Assessments and Standards Committee of the
Environmental Studies Program to impose on a student the sanction of a failing
grade on an individual assignment or on the course as a whole. The chair of the Program may recommend to the
dean of Students other sanctions, such as dismissal from a major or from the
University.
Ecological Risk Assessment
Tentative Schedule
(subject to change)
|
Date |
Lecture/Discussion |
Reading |
|
May 26 |
Introduction, Defining the field; Definitions and
concepts; Video (Superfund Risk Assessment and How You Can Help) |
CH 1; Articles |
|
June 2 |
Stressor-Response (Toxicology overview) |
|
|
June 9 |
Problem Formulation: assessment endpoint selection |
CH 2; |
|
June 16 |
Problem Formulation: conceptual models, and analysis plan |
|
|
June 23 |
Uncertainty
Analysis |
CH 7 |
|
June 30 |
Analysis Phase: exposure and effects assessment; Discussion of
uncertainty article |
CH 3 & 4 |
|
July 7 |
Analysis Phase: effects assessment; Risk characterization |
CH 5 & 6 |
|
July 14* |
Risk characterization; Remedial goals; Case study:
presentation and discussion |
CH 8; Assigned case study |
|
July 21 |
Remedial decisions; Case study: Rocky Mountain
Arsenal; |
CH 9 Hand Out |
|
July 28 |
Aquatic Ecological Risk Assessment Procedure: Tier
1, Tier 2, Tier 2 |
WERF document |
|
August 4 |
Post-remedial assessments; Case study: Anaconda Mine |
Handouts |
|
August 11 |
Final |
|
*
Student Case studies will begin July 14 and end on August 4.