2010 SETAC platform session - Call for abstracts Topic: Taking it one step farther: Population and metapopulation viability analyses
Many studies that SETAC members participate in focus on toxicological effects on individual organisms. However, evolution occurs at the species and population level. Population analyses are therefore, an often neglected, critical next step in toxicological studies and a prerequisite for ecological risk assessments. Population viability analyses (PVAs) are widely used by natural resource managers, particularly those working with threatened and endangered species and are considered to be specialized quantitative risk assessments. Useful PVAs incorporate environmental and demographic stochasticity, uncertainties, and unknowns using probabilistic models and sensitivity analysis. PVAs are best used to compare various stressors, stressor levels, or management strategies on populations. Due to human economic activity, most populations have become isolated and now function as metapopulations: separate populations with limited dispersal between populations. Thus, ecologically relevant PVAs model populations at the landscape level and incorporate metapopulation dynamics. This session will (re)introduce SETAC members to population viability analyses and metapopulation dynamics. The session will focus on studies that have used PVAs to evaluate the effects of any type of stressor on populations or metapopulations. 1. All abstracts must be submitted through the SETAC online submission site. http://portland.setac.org/node/3 2. Abstract submission deadline: June 4, 2010 3. Please contact the session chair, David Richards, if you plan to submit. dricha...@ecoanalysts.com; 406-580-7816 (cell) Thanks, Kaylani Merrill EcoAnalysts, Inc. Marketing Coordinator 1420 S. Blaine St, Suite 14 Moscow, ID 83843 208.882.2588 ext. 81 kmerr...@ecoanalysts.com www.ecoanalysts.com L I F E I N W A T E R : EcoAnalysts, Inc. is committed to helping our clients make highly informed decisions regarding the condition and stewardship of our natural resources.
