Using Decision Analysis to Choose Indicator Species for Ecological Assessments at Superfund Sites
Public Deposited- Last Modified
- February 27, 2019
- Creator
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Angus, Thomas H.
- Affiliation: Gillings School of Global Public Health, Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering
- Abstract
- The purpose of this paper is to develop a decision analytic framework for choosing indicator species for ecological assessments at Superfund sites. The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Cleanup, and Liability Act (CERCLA) amended by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) charges the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with ensuring that remediation efforts chosen for a site are protective of human health and the environment. To ensure that the natural communities in the vicinity of a site are being protected, the Environmental Protection Agency performs an ecological assessment. Indicator Species are used in the ecological assessment method. Indicator species are organisms who by their presence or absence indicate the extent of environmental contamination in natural communities. The Environmental Protection Agency does not currently use indicator species in ecological assessments, but is interested in using them for monitoring cleanup effectiveness after remediation. Choosing indicator species involves information that is difficult to quantify and the use of expert judgment. Decision analysis structures the decision problem and formally incorporates the expert judgement that is involved in choosing indicator species. The paper begins with a discussion of the use of ecological assessment by the Environmental Protection Agency and how indicator species may be used. This is followed by a discussion of the history of the indicator species concept and a review of the use of indicator species in terrestrial and aquatic environments. Criteria for choosing indicator species are then summarized. These criteria are then incorporated into a framework for choosing indicator species in the next section. This section includes a sensitivity analysis of the parameters of the problem. The final section of the paper is a case study site which illustrates the application of the framework for choosing indicator species.
- Date of publication
- August 1991
- DOI
- Resource type
- Rights statement
- In Copyright
- Advisor
- Amaral, Deborah
- Andrews, Richard N. L.
- Kuenzler, Edward J.
- Degree
- Master of Science in Public Health
- Academic concentration
- Environmental Management and Policy
- Degree granting institution
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Graduation year
- 1991
- Language
- Deposit record
- ad7e9272-7c4f-43e0-afeb-7a5f2526ad76
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