Science Advisory Report 2014/013

Guidance on Assessing Threats, Ecological Risk and Ecological Impacts for Species at Risk

Summary

Threat Assessment

• For species assessed as Extirpated, Endangered or Threatened by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC), the assessment and prioritization of threats to survival and/or recovery of the species needs to be provided in the Recovery Potential Assessment (RPA).
• A threat is defined as any human activity or process that has caused, is causing, or may cause harm, death, or behavioural changes to a wildlife species at risk, or the destruction, degradation, and/or impairment of its habitat, to the extent that population-level effects occur.  A human activity may exacerbate a natural process. A two-step process to characterize and prioritize threats to the survival and recovery of a species is proposed.
• Step 1 – Evaluate threats at the population level. This includes evaluating: Likelihood of Occurrence (LO), Level of Impact (LI), Causal certainty (CC), Population threat risk (PTR; the product of Likelihood of Occurrence and Level of Impact), Population-level threat occurrence (PTO), Population-level threat frequency (PTF) and Population-level threat extent (PTE).
• Step 2 – Evaluate threats at the wildlife species^{Footnote 1} level.  This includes evaluating: Species threat risk [STR; a roll-up of Population threat risk (PTR)], Species-level threat occurrence (STO), Species-level threat frequency (STF) and Species-level threat extent [STE; a roll-up of Population-level threat extent (PTE)].

Assessing Ecological Risk in Support of Species at Risk Listing Recommendations

• The purpose of the Risk-Based Assessment Tool is to establish a standard, coherent and transparent approach to developing listing recommendations throughout the department for species assessed by COSEWIC as Endangered, Threatened or Special Concern.
• Science is involved in providing advice to populate the four Ecological Risk Categories: Population and Extinction Risk, Habitat and Distribution, Ecosystem and Biodiversity and Threats
• The “Likelihood of Occurrence” and “Level of Impact” must be assessed in order to evaluate the risk using the risk matrix. The level of impact is measured in terms of negative consequences to the species.
• The “Likelihood of Occurrence” is the probability that an event will occur. The Likelihood of an event occurring can range anywhere from Not Likely to Certain.  The timeframe used for assessment of likelihood must be stated.
• Uncertainty and underlying assumptions must be stated and carried through the end of the listing process
• Practitioners should consult the following sources of information when using the tool: COSEWIC Status Report, RPA, Science Advisory Reports and related Proceedings and peer-reviewed information about the species.

Monitoring Ecological Impacts of Action Plans

• Under the SARA (s.55), Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has a legal obligation to assess and report on the ecological impacts of an Action Plan five years after the plan is approved.
• Information necessary to plan for the monitoring of ecological impacts shall be provided where possible in the RPA through:
  • Identification and prediction of potential ecological impacts of a threat and/or threat abatement (e.g. mitigation measures);
  • Identification of knowledge gaps of potential ecological impacts;
  • Identification of existing monitoring efforts for both the target species and its ecosystem; and
  • Evaluation of the potential of these data to respond to the SARA (s.55) requirement.
• Planning for the monitoring of ecological impacts shall take place at the recovery planning stages through:
  • Identification and prediction of potential ecological impacts of a recovery action;
    • Prioritization of recovery measures based on how likely they are to help achieve recovery objectives
    • For each priority recovery measure, understanding the pathways of effects
    • Identification of elements most vulnerable to ecological impacts
    • Screening out activities of low ecological impact
    • For activities of higher ecological impact, identification of those with existing monitoring data (data should be robust enough to infer trends). Specify how this information will be accessed and reported on
  • Identification of knowledge gaps associated with potential ecological impacts;
  • If necessary, identification of new monitoring efforts to address knowledge gaps; and
  • Evaluation of the potential strength of the relationship between the specific recovery action undertaken and a given ecological impact (this may be qualitative or quantitative).
• Planning for the monitoring of ecological impacts during the RPA and recovery planning stages shall not require data analysis or modeling. Data analysis will occur during the implementation of the Action Plan. Existing monitoring data shall be used to the greatest extent possible when available, and only when necessary should additional monitoring efforts be proposed.

This Science Advisory Report is from the May 29-31, 2013 National Peer Review on Assessing Threats, Ecological Risk and Ecological Impacts. Additional publications from this meeting will be posted on the Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) Science Advisory Schedule as they become available.

Complete document (PDF, 677 KB)

Accessibility Notice

This document is available in PDF format. If the document is not accessible to you, please contact the Secretariat to obtain another appropriate format, such as regular print, large print, Braille or audio version.