| There is a growing awareness that ecological risk assessments (ERAs) could be improved if they made better use of ecological information. In particular, landscape features that determine the quality of wildlife habitat can have a profound influence on the estimated exposure to stressors incurred by animals when they occupy a particular area. Various approaches to characterizing the quality of habitat for a given species have existed for some time. These approaches fall into three generalized categories: (1) entirely qualitative as in suitable or unsuitable, (2) semiquantitative as in formalized habitat suitability index models, or (3) highly quantitative site-specific characterization of population demographic data such as matrix population models or... |
