Historically, the term risk assessment has been applied to the examination of potential risk to human health as a result of exposure to some introduced environmental toxicant. As an intellectual discipline, risk assessment is in its infancy. Within the past couple of decades, considerable research has been done in the fields of toxicology, industrial hygiene, environmental impact assessment, en...

The ecosystem services (ES) approach is gaining broad interest in regulatory and policy arenas for use in landscape management and ecological risk assessment. It has the potential to bring greater ecological relevance to the setting of environmental protection goals and to the assessment of the ecological risk posed by chemicals. A workshop, organised under the auspices of the Society of Enviro...

The presence of emerging contaminants in municipal wastewaters, particularly endocrine-disrupting compounds such as oestrogenic substances, has been the focus of much public concern and scientific attention in recent years. Due to the scientific uncertainty still surrounding their effects, the Precautionary Principle could be invoked for the interim management of potential risks. Therefore, pre...

This study presents data on the detailed evaluation (tier 2) of a site-specific ecological risk assessment (ssERA) in a former smelter area contaminated with metals (Santo Amaro, Bahia, Brazil). Combining information from three lines of evidence (LoE), chemical (ChemLoE), ecotoxicological (EcotoxLoE) and ecological (EcoLoE), in the Triad approach, integrated risk values were calculated to rank ...

Background: The release of metals from industrial factories is one of the most important sources of environmental pollution. The present study aimed to determine the concentration of heavy metals like cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni), and lead (Pb) in dust around the cement factory. Methods: A total of 22 dust samples were collected from areas around the cement factory...

Analyzing evolution characteristics of landscape ecological risk patterns would help establish ecological risk early warning mechanism, reduce the ecological risk probability and promote coastal landscape pattern optimization. In this study, landscape pattern indices were first calculated by using multitemporal Landsat TM images acquired in years 1990, 2000 and 2010, then landscape ecological r...

Ecosystem services are defined as the outputs of ecological processes that contribute to human welfare or have the potential to do so in the future. Those outputs include food and drinking water, clean air and water, and pollinated crops. The need to protect the services provided by natural systems has been recognized previously, but ecosystem services have not been formally incorporated into e...