A conceptual model for ecological risk assessment in the watershed of a small estuary
- Tetra Tech, Inc., Owings Mills, MD (United States)
- National Marine Fisheries Service, Woods Hole, MA (United States)
- Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, MA (United States)
- Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC (United States)
- Environmental Protection Agency, Lexington, MA (United States)
Waquoit Bay, a small estuary on the south shore of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, is subject to several stressors resulting from population growth and suburbanization of the area; and groundwater contamination from spilled solvents and fuels at an old military base. Population in the watershed increased approximately 15-fold in the past 50 years, and residential land use has increased from 2 percent of the watershed in 1950 to 20 percent in 1990. Management goals for the watershed were identified by stakeholders. Endpoints of the risk assessment followed from the management goals and included anadromous fish, freshwater benthic invertebrates, water-dependent wildlife, trophic state of freshwater ponds, pond fish, estuarine eelgrass beds, estuarine benthic invertebrates, and estuarine fish. A conceptual model was developed to illustrate all potential pathways of effects on the endpoints from known, identified sources and stressors in the watershed. The conceptual model served as the basis for a comparative risk analysis, using fuzzy-set logic, that identified nutrient enrichment and habitat alteration as the principal stressors.
- OSTI ID:
- 455315
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-961149-; TRN: IM9716%%164
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 17. annual meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry: partnerships for the environment - science, education, and policy, Washington, DC (United States), 17-21 Nov 1996; Other Information: PBD: 1995; Related Information: Is Part Of SETAC 17. annual meeting -- Abstract book. Partnerships for the environment: Science, education, and policy; PB: 378 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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