Centre for Ecosystem Studies, Alterra, Wageningen UR, PO Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Sci Total Environ. 2010 Aug 15;408(18):3871-9. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2009.11.009. Epub 2009 Dec 9.
This paper reviews the application of ecological vulnerability analysis in risk assessment and describes new developments in methodology. For generic non-site-specific assessments (e.g. for the requirements of most European directives on dangerous chemicals) risk is characterised just on the basis of the ratio between an effect indicator and an exposure indicator. However, when the actual risk for a specific ecosystem is desired, the concept of ecological vulnerability may be more appropriate. This calls for a change in thinking, from sensitivity at the organism level to vulnerability at higher organization levels, and thus forms the link from laboratory toxicology to field effects at population, community or ecosystem level. To do so, biological and ecological characteristics of the ecosystems under concern are needed to estimate the ecological vulnerability. In this review we describe different vulnerability analysis methods developed for populations (of a single species), communities (consisting of different populations of species) and ecosystems (community and habitat combined). We also give some examples of methods developed for socio-ecological systems. Aspects that all methods share are the use of expert judgment, the input of stakeholders, ranking and mapping of the results, and the qualitative nature of the results. A new general framework is presented to guide future ecological vulnerability analysis. This framework can be used as part of ecological risk assessment, but also in risk management. We conclude that the further quantification of ecological vulnerability is a valuable contribution to vulnerability assessment.
本文综述了生态脆弱性分析在风险评估中的应用，并描述了方法学的新进展。对于通用的非特定地点评估（例如，满足大多数关于危险化学品的欧洲指令的要求），风险仅基于效应指标和暴露指标之间的比值来确定。然而，当需要评估特定生态系统的实际风险时，生态脆弱性的概念可能更为合适。这需要改变思维方式，从生物体水平的敏感性转变为更高组织水平的脆弱性，从而将实验室毒理学与种群、群落或生态系统水平的现场效应联系起来。为此，需要关注的生态系统的生物和生态特征来估计生态脆弱性。在本综述中，我们描述了为种群（单一物种）、群落（由不同物种的种群组成）和生态系统（群落和栖息地的组合）开发的不同脆弱性分析方法。我们还给出了一些用于社会生态系统的方法示例。所有方法都具有的特点包括专家判断的使用、利益相关者的投入、结果的排序和映射，以及结果的定性性质。提出了一个新的通用框架来指导未来的生态脆弱性分析。该框架可用于生态风险评估，也可用于风险管理。我们的结论是，生态脆弱性的进一步量化是脆弱性评估的有价值的贡献。
