Exploring variability in environmental impact risk from human activities across aquatic ecosystems

Area of Science:

• Environmental science
• Ecology
• Risk assessment

Background:

• Aquatic ecosystems (freshwater, coastal, marine) face severe pressure from human activities.
• Impact chains link human activities, pressures, and ecosystem components.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and assess environmental risks posed by human activities to aquatic ecosystems.
• To determine which activities, pressures, and ecosystem components face the greatest risks.

Main Methods:

• Utilized an environmental risk assessment approach across seven European case studies.
• Developed a linkage framework connecting 45 human activities, 31 pressures, and 82 ecosystem components.
• Weighted interactions based on spatial extent, dispersal, frequency, persistence, and severity to calculate environmental impact risk scores.

Main Results:

• Identified over 22,000 activity-pressure-ecosystem component interactions.
• Energy production activities were relevant across all aquatic domains; fishing in marine, and environmental engineering in freshwater.
• Chemical and physical pressures posed the greatest risks, particularly to ecotones.

Conclusions:

• Human activities, especially energy production, fishing, and engineering, present significant risks to aquatic ecosystems.
• Chemical and physical pressures are key drivers of environmental impact.
• Findings inform management decisions regarding trade-offs in freshwater, coastal, and marine resource use.