Evaluating consistency of best professional judgment in the application of a multiple lines of evidence sediment quality triad

Abstract

The bioavailability of sediment-associated contaminants is poorly understood. Often, a triad of chemical concentration measurements, laboratory sediment toxicity tests, and benthic infaunal community condition is used to assess whether contaminants are present at levels of ecological concern. Integration of these 3 lines of evidence is typically based on best professional judgment by experts; however, the level of consistency among expert approach and interpretation has not been determined. In this study, we compared the assessments of 6 experts who were independently provided data from 25 California embayment sites and asked to rank the relative condition of each site from best to worst. The experts were also asked to place each site into 1 of 6 predetermined categories of absolute condition. We provided no guidance regarding assessment approach or interpretation of supplied data. The relative ranking of the sites was highly correlated among the experts, with an average correlation coefficient of 0.92. Although the experts' relative rankings were highly correlated, the categorical assessments were much less consistent, with only 1 site out of 25 assigned to the same absolute condition category by all 6 experts. Most of the observed categorical differences were small in magnitude and involved the weighing of different lines of evidence in individual assessment approaches, rather than interpretation of signals within a line of evidence. We attribute categorical differences to the experts' use of individual best professional judgment and consider these differences to be indicative of potential uncertainty in the evaluation of sediment quality. The results of our study suggest that specifying key aspects of the assessment approach a priori and aligning the approach to the study objectives can reduce this uncertainty.

Testing the use of best professional judgment to create biological benchmarks for habitat assessment of wetlands and oak savannas in northwestern Indiana

“…In contrast to these previous studies, Bay et al (2009) and Thompson et al (2012) expressed concerns about BPJ agreement. Bay et al (2009) argued professional bias and a lack of complete data resulted in poor agreement among professionals in their study.…”

“…Although each expert listed the metrics used to determine the quality category of each site, some subjectivity may be involved in reaching a decision. This also was a perceived problem in the study conducted by Bay et al (2009). Similarly, this has been observed when creating automated diagnostic models in the medical field.…”

“…Bay et al (2009) argued professional bias and a lack of complete data resulted in poor agreement among professionals in their study. Thompson et al (2012) concluded that poor agreement may have been a result of a lack of knowledge among the experts in the specific conditions of that study.…”

A Catalogue of Marine Biodiversity Indicators

“…Using multiple lines of evidence during environmental assessments has been common practice for a long time now (e.g., Adams, 2005;Bay et al, 2007). The importance of integrating knowledge from different ecosystem aspects has recently grown with the overall acceptance of the Ecosystem Based Management Approach, and has led to several proposals and recommendations on best practices to integrate multiple indicators and assessment scales (review by Borja et al, 2014).…”

Two high-throughput screening assays for aberrant RNA–protein interactions in myotonic dystrophy type 1

“…DM represents a novel disease paradigm where the mutant RNA exerts a dominant deleterious effect that is independent of the protein it encodes. The pathogenic expanded CUG repeat (CUG exp ) RNA accumulates in nuclear foci and sequesters proteins of the muscleblind-like (MBNL) family, of which MBNL1 is the most common family member in skeletal muscle [4,5]. MBNL proteins regulate alternative splicing, and their sequestration alters the splicing patterns of a myriad of transcripts.…”