Ecological risk assessment frameworks: A spectrum of approaches, assumptions, and applications

Ecological risk assessment is an increasingly common method used in evaluating the potential impacts of natural and human-induced impacts on protected species and environments. Such evaluations have been applied across a wide range of natural environments and taxa but share the use of an integrated ecological perspective in which potential risk from various kinds of perturbations are placed within the contexts of species-typical life history, environmental, and population parameters. Approaches can include a wide range of approaches from quite simple and qualitative to complex and explicitly quantitative. Each have strengths and limitations, depending on the species, context, and requirements related to regulations and management. This talk will present a spectrum of risk assessment approaches focused on potential noise impacts in marine environments and discuss the associated advantages and challenges of different approaches.

Ecological risk assessment frameworks: A spectrum of approaches, assumptions, and applications – October 29, 2025

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Dr. Saana Isojunno, Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU), University of St. Andrews, Scotland

Dr. Saana Isojunno is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Research into Ecological and Environmental Modelling (CREEM) at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. Her research focuses on quantifying the potential impacts of human activities on the behaviour and space use of marine predators, including marine mammals and seabirds. As part of international collaborative efforts, she is currently working on evaluating and developing approaches to multi-species risk assessment in the context of future offshore wind energy developments. Behavioural ecologist by training, Dr Isojunno has a BSc from the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, and MSc and Ph.D from the University of St Andrews.

Dr. Brandon Southall, Southall Environmental Associates (SEA), University of California-Santa Cruz, Duke University

Dr. Brandon Southall is President and Chief Scientist for Southall Environmental Associates (SEA), a research scientist with Marine Acoustics, Inc a Research Associate with the University of California, Santa Cruz, an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Duke University Marine Laboratory. He obtained Masters and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California Santa Cruz, studying communication and hearing in marine mammals, and subsequently directed the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Ocean Acoustics Program where he developed the first systematic marine mammal noise exposure criteria. He has published nearly 200 peer-reviewed scientific papers and technical reports and given hundreds of presentations to scientific, regulatory, Congressional, and general audiences around the world. He leads several large, inter-disciplinary behavioral response studies of marine mammals through SEA and is engaged in a wide variety of field and laboratory research projects on hearing and the effects of noise on marine mammals.