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Let's get to the crucial question: how
does a risk assessor decide which of the many potential assessment endpoints
to use during the risk assessment?
You may have to consider more than one level of organization (see
the Graphic). It is rarely clear which of these ecosystem components
are most critical to ecosystem function. Further, professionals
and the public don't always agree on which are most valuable. This
increases the challenge in choosing which ecological characteristics
to protect. Three principal criteria clarify this choice:
- Ecological relevance.
- Susceptibility to known or potential stressors.
- Relevance to management goals.
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Levels of Organization
in Considering Endpoint Criteria
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Let's look at each of these three criteria in depth, and then consider
an example that illustrates them. We'll start with ecological relevance.
Relevant
guidelines section(s): 3.3.1
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