The three main elements — source and exposure, the ecosystem
at risk, and the ecological effects — must all be identified,
but any of them may be the reason for starting the assessment:
There may be an existing or proposed source whose potential
effects you want to know.
There may be a specific resource you want to protect, and you
may be trying to identify potential threats so you can focus protection
or pollution-prevention efforts.
Effects may have been observed; you may be conducting the assessment
retrospectively to figure out what might have caused them.
Review each example of why a risk assessment might be initiated.
Click the blue toggle-ball to advance through examples of what
type of data is given, and what type of data needs to be gathered,
depending on the reasons for doing the assessment.
Starting
an Assessment