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"AMORE" Decision Support System for probabilistic Ecological Risk Assessment - Part II: Effect assessment of the case
Panagiotis Isigonis1, Andrea Critto1, Alex Zabeo1
1Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, University Ca' Foscari of Venice, Venice, Italy.
The Science of the Total Environment
|September 3, 2018
Summary
A new method using Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) enhances ecotoxicological data reliability for environmental risk assessment. This approach produces Weighted by Data Quality Species Sensitivity Distributions (SSD-WDQ) to estimate environmental quality criteria for chemicals like cyanide.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Ecotoxicology
- Risk Assessment
Background:
- Ecotoxicological data are crucial for environmental risk assessment and setting quality criteria for water, soil, and sediment.
- Evaluating the reliability and relevance of existing ecotoxicological data is essential for accurate risk assessments.
- Cyanide ecotoxicity data requires robust evaluation for effective environmental risk management.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce and validate a novel methodology based on Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) for assessing the reliability and relevance of ecotoxicological data.
- To develop Weighted by Data Quality Species Sensitivity Distributions (SSD-WDQ) for ecological risk assessment (ERA) of chemicals in aquatic systems.
- To estimate environmental quality criteria, specifically Hazardous Concentration (HCx) values, for cyanide in the Selune river watershed.
Main Methods:
- Application of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) techniques to evaluate the quality of ecotoxicological data.
- Generation of Weighted by Data Quality Species Sensitivity Distributions (SSD-WDQ) using the MCDA-evaluated data.
- Utilizing the AMORE Decision Support System (DSS) for probabilistic ERA and calculating HCx values.
Main Results:
- The study successfully demonstrated the methodology for analysing ecotoxicological data reliability and relevance.
- SSD-WDQ were produced, enabling the estimation of environmental quality criteria (HC5 and HC50) for cyanide.
- Probabilistic analysis of species sensitivity to cyanide and HCx calculation for the Selune river were performed, comparing new and existing methodologies.
Conclusions:
- The proposed MCDA-based methodology effectively enhances the reliability and relevance assessment of ecotoxicological data.
- The development of SSD-WDQ provides a more robust foundation for ecological risk assessment and the derivation of environmental quality criteria.
- The AMORE DSS, incorporating these novel methods, offers a powerful tool for probabilistic ERA, as demonstrated by the cyanide case study.