Applications of Weight-of-Evidence Approach in Environmental Quality Assessment

About the Presentation

Weight-of-evidence (WOE) approach, introduced by the US EPA in 1998, was incorporated within ecological risk assessment to describe an inclusive process of evaluating all available information called lines of evidence. The results collected from the lines of evidence are interpreted by the analysis plan, which should include methods of reviewing, analyzing, and summarizing the uncertainty in the risk assessment. Thus, the conclusion of a risk assessment should have a “weight” acquired through the consideration of several lines of evidence of the expected impact. However, the interpretation of lines of evidence and description of ecological effects in the risk assessment should not be merely reduced to numbers. This talk will provide a detailed analysis of WOE approach and an overview of its application in the dredged material toxicity assessment and management, as well as in the acidification studies.

About the Speaker

Alla Khosrovyan has conducted doctoral research at the University of Cadiz (Spain) in marine and coastal management field. Her research directions comprised the dredged material toxicity assessment and management, and the effects of acidification from a hypothetical leak of CO2 gas stored in the geological storage. She is also a graduate of the Computer and Information Science program of AUA (2003) and a graduate of the joint master’s program Water and Coastal Management of the University of Plymouth (UK) and University of Cadiz (2008).