Acute ecological risk associated with soot deposition: a Persian Gulf casestudy

Many studies have been carried out in the past to provide solutions to the threat of chemicals to the ecosystem. However, the basic scientific capabil ity to predict the risk of adverse effects on the ecological system has not kept pace with society's increasing demand for uses of chemicals. As a sci entific methodology for quantifying the risk to the environment associated with exposure to chemicals, ecological risk assessment is increasingly impo rtant in environmental problem solving. The purpose of this paper is to pre sent a methodology for conducting ecological risk assessment using determin istic and probabilistic approaches. A systematic discussion on elements of ecological risk assessment is presented. A framework of ecological risk ass essment is explained with the help of the Persian Gulf environmental proble m as a case study. The study was based on the output of a long-range transp ort model of soot deposition in the Gulf. Results of the assessment using t he deterministic and probabilistic approaches are discussed. (C) 2001 Elsev ier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.