Integrated Laboratory and Field Investigations: Assessing Contaminant Risk to American Badgers

Abstract

Risk posed by chemicals to wildlife species inhabiting hazardous waste sites is a function of exposure and toxicity. To estimate exposure, many EcoRAs compile ecological data from the scientific literature on parameters such as the expanse of the home range, composition of the diet, and rates of ingestion. These exposure parameters often come from natural history studies of wildlife inhabiting the landscapes of National Wildlife Refuges, wilderness, and other natural areas not likely to be similar to hazardous waste sites. Relative to pristine settings, hazardous waste sites have both chemical and nonchemical stressors in a landscape disturbed by anthropogenic activities. These perturbations can include chemical contamination, large industrial building structures, roadways and the traffic that goes with them, artificial water containment structures, and altered habitat structure and function. Collectively, these factors may influence the movement of animals and their exposure to chemicals in the contaminated landscape (see Kapustka et al. 2004). Because anthropogenic influences on each site are different, each hazardous waste site may have unique characteristics profoundly impacting behavior and ecology of wild species inhabiting the area. Site-specific behavioral and ecological data are, therefore, critical for accurate exposure estimates in EcoRAs, as well as a broader understanding of how wildlife may be impacted by nonchemical stressors. Environmental Risk and Management from a Landscape Perspective, edited by Kapustka and Landis