Integration of Ecosystem Services into Ecological Risk Assessment for Implementation in Ecosystem-Based River Management: A Case Study of the Yellow River, China

ABSTRACT

Ecological risk assessment (ERA) is a scientific tool used to support ecosystem-based management (EBM), but most current ERA methods consider only a few indices of particular species or components. Such limitations restrict the scope of results so that they are insufficient to reflect the integrated risk characterization of an ecosystem, thereby inhibiting the application of ERA in EBM. We incorporate the concept of ecosystem services into ERA and develop an improved ERA framework to create a comprehensive risk map of an ecosystem, accounting for multiple human activities and ecosystem services. Using the Yellow River as a case study, we show how this framework enables the implementation of integrated risk characterization and prioritization of the most important ecological risk issues in the ecosystem-based river management of the Yellow River. This framework can help practitioners facilitate better implementation of ERA within EBM in rivers or any target ecosystem.

Key Words:

• ecosystem services
• ecological risk assessment
• ecosystem-based management
• river management
• Yellow River.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank the two anonymous reviewers for their instructive comments. This work was supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program (863 Program) (No. 2007AA06A403–0101) of the Ministry of Science and Technology and Program of Strategic Environmental Assessment for Industrial Development in Region of the Ministry of Environmental Protection.