Ecological vulnerability in wildlife: Application of a species‐ranking method to food chains and habitats

Abstract

Nature development in The Netherlands is often planned on contaminated soils or sediments. This contamination may present a risk for wildlife species desired at those nature development sites and must be assessed by specific risk assessment methods. In a previous study, we developed a method to predict ecological vulnerability in wildlife species by using autecological data and expert judgment; in the current study, this method is further extended to assess ecological vulnerability of food chains and terrestrial and aquatic habitats typical for The Netherlands. The method is applied to six chemicals: Cd, Cu, Zn, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, chlorpyrifos, and ivermectin. The results indicate that species in different food chains differ in vulnerability, with earthworm-based food chains the most vulnerable. Within and between food chains, vulnerability varied with habitat, particularly at low trophic levels. The concept of habitat vulnerability was applied to a case study of four different habitat types in floodplains contaminated with cadmium and zinc along the river Dommel, The Netherlands. The alder floodplain forest habitat contained the most vulnerable species. The differences among habitats were significant for Cd. We further conclude that the method has good potential for application in mapping of habitat vulnerability.

Risk assessment requires several bee species to address species-specific sensitivity to insecticides at field-realistic concentrations

“…Differential sensitivity of a bee species does not fully describe its vulnerability, which also encompasses exposure and recovery from exposure 71 , 72 . While our experiment focused on bee sensitivity in response to topical lambda-cyhalothrin at a field-realistic rate, our tested bee species likely experience different exposure routes to the insecticide in the field due to their different life histories, foraging behavior, and sociality (Fig.…”

Assessing Surveillance of Wildlife Diseases by Determining Mammal Species Vulnerability to Climate Change

“…Species with a low dispersal ability are more likely to be at risk of climate change, as these species might not be able to move to novel suitable environments [3,31,34,41] Diet specialism Number of level 1 and level 2 dietary items eaten by a species c Species with broader dietary breadths are assumed to have a higher ability to utilize resources and to establish themselves in novel areas [31][32][33] Reproductive capacity Number of offspring maximally produced by a mammal [42]. Calculated according to:…”

Biomonitoring of lake sediments using benthic macroinvertebrates

“…The recent trait approach was successfully used to develop mechanistic models based on a solid theoretical basis to predict the response of natural communities, considering both structural and functional aspects [13,77,80,82]. To understand how multiple stressors may affect trait composition, microcosms and mesocosms can be used to find a priori models explaining direct and indirect effects on communities.…”

“…It is only in recent times that the whole-community response to toxic contamination has been taken into account, developing effective indices of the effects of toxicity in freshwater ecosystems, using different approaches (e.g., methods based on community structure, protocols considering indicator organisms and regarding the ecological role of taxa) [12][13][14]. Riverine invertebrate communities have been extensively studied in response to gradients of contamination, producing effective toxicity indices [15][16][17].…”