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SYMPOSIUM ANNOUNCEMENT and FINAL CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

Modeling and Measuring the Vulnerability of Ecosystems at Regional
Scales for Use in Ecological Risk Assessment and Risk Management

                              17 - 20 August 1998
      Bell Harbor International Conference Center
                        Seattle, Washington, USA

         *** Abstract Deadline - 31 March 1998 ***

Symposium Sponsors:
Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC)
United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)
American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) -
  Committee E47 on Biological Effects and Environmental Fate

E-mail abstracts to ecovuln@setac.org.
Questions?  E-mail: abshelp@setac.org

Registration fees:
   Early (by 30 June 1998)
         $225 for SETAC members
         $330 for non-members
   Late (after 30 June 1998 and on-site)
         $325 for SETAC members
         $430 for non-members
   A limited number of student registrations will be available:
         $95 for SETAC student members
         $160 for non-members

 *** Presenters will be responsible for paying their own travel
 expenses and registration fees for the symposium ***

Housing and registration forms will be available for download at
http://www.setac.org after 1 April 1998.

Although this is a small specialty symposium (we anticipate that
approximately 300 people will attend), it will draw some of top
scientists working in this important area.

We have been successful in assembling an excellent group of plenary
speakers who represent a broad spectrum of unique perspectives.  The
confirmed plenary speakers are:

Kenneth L. Dickson, Ph.D.     Director, Institute of Applied Sciences,
                         University of North Texas

Elaine J. Dorward-King, Ph.D.    Rio Tinto Technology (United Kingdom)
                         and SETAC Vice President

Henry Lickers            Director, Department of the Environment for the
                    Mohawk Council of Akwesasne

James A. MacMahon, Ph.D.    Department of Biology, Utah State
                    University, and President of the
                    Ecological Society of America

We will also have a panel presentation by representatives of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency's, Office of Research and Development
(Dr. Rick A. Linthurst, Mr. Lee Mulkey, Mr. Michael W. Slimak, Dr.
Gilman D. Veith, and Ms. Barbara M. Levinson).

Robert Bateman, the renowned Canadian nature artist, has agreed to
provide an after dinner presentation on 17 August on his art and
philosophy.

SYMPOSIUM DESCRIPTION

Among the many issues that environmental risk assessors and risk
managers must face is the need to evaluate the status of the
environment at an ecosystem level and extrapolate into the future.
Investigators must consider what are appropriate questions and
experimental designs for different assessment scales.  There are
several reasons for this, such as:

- Data are often at multiple levels of biological organization, or at
single sub-ecosystem levels at discrete regions within the
  ecosystem.

- Data at the ecosystem level, by nature of the scale, are often
aggregated and tend to have less detail.  This can be  problematic
when evaluating impacts or exposure.

 - Models tend to  address specific factors (e.g., exposure models vs.
effects), media  (water vs. land), and geography (local vs. regional).

To explore these and related issues, a symposium co-sponsored by
SETAC, ASTM, and USEPA has been developed to bring together people to
present approaches to the problem and available supporting data.  This
symposium will allow attendees to discuss the problems and potential
solutions to integration of data and models across scales, levels of
organization, and multiple stressors for the purpose of improving
ecological risk assessment and management practices.

The main points we hope will be addressed include:
-  Monitoring research focused on development of indicators at
various  levels of biological organization for multiscale monitoring
and  ecosystem evaluation.

 - The development and validation of models focused on improving
first-principle exposure and effect models, coupling and scaling of
effects and exposure models, and development  of a common modeling
framework to improve integration of models.

 - Risk assessment research focused on novel approaches to
integrating  landscape, exposure, and effects.

- Risk management and communication  issues regarding watershed and
larger scale pollution issues.

SYMPOSIUM ORGANIZATION

The symposium is tentatively organized as follows:

Day 1 (10:00 AM - 5:00 PM with reception and dinner to follow)
A series of plenary speakers will present relevant information and
approaches from both a broad and a focused perspective

Day 2 (9:00 AM - evening including a reception and attendance at
posters) The second day will be a day of sessions involving
presentation and discussion of submitted papers.  Sessions have been
tentatively scheduled in the following areas:
 1.    Model Integration
 2.    Scale Integration
 3.    Ecological Risk Assessment
 4.    Ecological Risk Communication and Management
 5.    Indicators
 6.    Linkages Among Indicators

Day 3  (9:00 AM - 5:00 PM)
The morning and early afternoon of the third day will be devoted to
presentations of Case Studies (Session 7).  Later, a closing session
will address (a) communication among risk assessors, risk managers,
and stakeholders, and (b) lessons learned/key issues raised during the
symposium.

Day 4
Optional training courses are planned; times and location will be
announced:
   Introduction to geographic information systems
   Framing the questions for integrated ecological risk assessments

 *** Presenters will be responsible for paying their own travel
 expenses and registration fees for the symposium ***

Of particular interest will be papers encompassing the following
topics:

  a.    Integrating/integrative models
  b    How to integrate across media
  c.    How to integrate across scales
  d.    Integration of databases (including standardization of databases
to facilitate integration)
  e.    Identification of available databases
  f.    Identification of database needs
  g    Dealing with the interactions (Heisenberg revisited)
  h.    How to use toxicological data to determine the ecological
implications
  i.    Identification of indicators at various scales and why each
indicator is particularly useful
  j.    Linkage between indicators, and problems therein
  k.    Correlation of laboratory results with (the often unmatched)
field results, and identification of factors that affect the field
(and laboratory) results
  l.    Problems inherent with standardization of methods
  m.    How to address changes in the dynamics of ecosystems
  n.    How to address toxicological dynamics (e.g. seasonal differences
in sensitivity)
  o.    Use of GIS in ecological risk assessment
  p.    Landscape integration q.    Ecoepidemiology
  r.    Ecoeconomics, societal values, and socioeconomic issues
  s.    Integration across political boundaries
  t.    Problems and solutions re: communication between communities and
regulators -- going beyond the anecdotal evidence
  u.    And especially: Case studies that address the above issues

Because we are aware that truly integrated studies are rare, and many
are still in progress, we invite people to submit abstracts detailing
integrative study designs for studies in progress.  In this case, it
is especially important to include the rationale used for building the
study design.

The Ecosystem Vulnerability Symposium is not intended to be a
"show-and-tell" meeting, but rather a meeting to facilitate
improvement in our methods of ecosystem exposure, effects, and
susceptibility assessment (at multiple levels and using multiple
indicators).  Therefore, we suggest that authors consider the
following questions when preparing both their abstracts and their
final presentations:

ALL SESSIONS -- provide information on study design:
 What were the objectives of the study and the rationale behind the
study design?
 What would you do differently now that you have begun
(or have finished) the study?
What methods and design specifics
worked, what didn't, and why didn't it work?
How did you develop your criteria for success, and how were they met?

INDICATORS SESSIONS:
What were the criteria you used to discriminate among indicators in
making your selections?

At each scale or within each type of region,
which indicators were most useful and why?

Were some indicators so cross-correlated that they could be deleted in
the future?  What information is needed before the choice to delete an
indicator is acceptable scientifically?

How did you benchmark indicators to harmonize different datasets?

What minimum metadata requirements need to be specifically addressed
during the standardization process?

SCALING AND MODELING SESSIONS:
What are the appropriate questions to ask at each scale?

 What questions are appropriate to ask across multiple scales?

 What barriers did you find in conducting assessments at different
scales, and in extrapolating across scales?  How did you address or
overcome those barriers?

 What kind of structure or information is needed to use the data that
you gathered at one scale (e.g. along a small section of a river) for
larger scale assessments (e.g. within the whole watershed).  If you
tried this, what worked, what didn't, and why didn't it work?

How did you address ecosystem dynamics at each scale and within the
models?

How have you validated your models?  What has worked for
validation and what has not worked so far, and why?

RISK ASSESSMENT / RISK MANAGEMENT SESSIONS:
What factors were most critical in determining the approach you
selected for your risk assessment?  What information don't you have
that you most need?

What information do you most use and most need
for making risk management decisions?

What information is still lacking in the data that you have available
to you?

How do you guide stakeholders in framing their concerns in
the form of assessment questions so that their needs are addressed?

CASE STUDIES SESSIONS:

What methods that you have used and/or developed are applicable to
other studies in other bioregions?

How is the data that you have obtained in your case study relevant to
other scales and to other studies?

What have you learned in setting up and carrying out your case study
that will help others design a more time-, cost-, and people-efficient
study in the future?

Please contact one of the Organizing Committee members if you have
any additional questions.

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE:

Llewellyn R. Williams, Chair
U.S. EPA
National Exposure Research Lab.
PO Box 93478
Las Vegas, NV 89193-3478
T 702 798 2138
F 702 798 2233
E williams.llewellyn@epamail.epa.gov

Gregory R. Biddinger
Exxon Company, U.S.A.
Environmental and. Safety
800 Bell Street, Room 4211
Houston, TX  77002
T 713 656 8304
F 713 656 6594
E greg.r.biddinger@exxon.sprint.com

Scott D.  Dyer
The Procter & Gamble Company
Environmental Science Department
5299 Spring Grove Avenue
Cincinnati, OH 45217-1087
T 513 627 8045
F 513 627 8198
E dyersd@pg.com

Diane Henshel
Indiana University
SPEA 340
10th & Fee Road
Bloomington, IN 47405
T 812-855-4556
F 812-855-7802
E dhenshel@indiana.edu

John H. Rodgers
Clemson University
Dept. of Environmental Toxicology
PO Box 709, 1 TIWET Drive
Pendleton, SC  29670
T 864 646 2239
F 864 646 2260
E  jrodger@clemson.edu

Rodney Parrish
SETAC Office
1010 North 12th Avenue
Pensacola, FL 32501-3370
T 850 469 1500
F 850 469 9778
E rparrish@setac.org

Greg Schiefer
SETAC Office
1010 North 12th Avenue
Pensacola, FL 32501-3370
T 850 469 1500
F 850 469 9778
E schiefer@setac.org

Abstracts should include a statement of objectives, brief description
of methods used, concise presentation of results, and a summary of
conclusions/inferences drawn.  Abstracts can be submitted by mail on
paper, on 3.5-inch floppy disks (formatted for DOS), or by
attached-message e-mail. If they are being sent in electronic format,
they must be submitted in WordPerfect7, Microsoft Word7 6.0, or ASCII
text. Only Microsoft Word7 for MAC via e-mail or on a 3.5" floppy
disks (formatted for DOS) will be accepted for MAC formatted
documents. Save your documents with a .wpd (WordPerfect7) or .doc
(Word7), or .txt (ASCII) ending ONLY.  FAXED abstracts will not be
accepted.

The following procedures will be followed. Persons submitting
abstracts will be notified of receipt within 2 weeks. Please do not
contact us about your abstract(s) until at least 2 weeks have elapsed
since submission.  Authors who submit an electronic copy via e-mail to
setac@setac.org  will be notified of receipt via e-mail. Those who
submit abstracts on paper or on floppy disks will be notified of
receipt via Postal Service or FAX.

SEND YOUR ABSTRACT ONE WAY & ONLY SEND IT ONCE, please.  Authors will
be notified of acceptance/rejection no later than 15 May 1998.

Accuracy and appearance of the abstract are the responsibility of the
author(s). Conformity to the required format facilitates rapid,
verbatim transcription of the abstracts into the Abstract Book without
editing delays on the part of the SETAC Office.

Abstract format: PLEASE follow instructions carefully.

Abstracts, including author and title lines, are to be no more than
300 words. LONGER ABSTRACTS WILL BE EDITED.

Include at the top of the file the following information:

1.     Author list: List all authors of paper. Last name, first initial,
second initial.

2.    Key Words: List four key words to be used to assign
your paper to the appropriate session and in the key-word index in the
Abstract Book.

3    Author to contact (we suggest that this be the
presenting author) Institution Complete mailing address Phone number
FAX number E-mail address

4.     Who will present paper?

5.    Your preference for oral or poster presentation.

6.     Your 1st and 2nd choice of session preference (topics on front
page)

7.     If your abstract is invited, please indicate here.  Please
list who invited your abstract.

8.     Indicate here if you will need power for a computer to enhance
your presentation.

9.     DO NOT INDENT any part of the abstract. The text should be a
single paragraph.

Symbols and special fonts

We strongly encourage everyone to submit in either WordPerfect7 or
Microsoft Word7 6.0 format. If you use ASCII text, please minimize the
use of symbols, special fonts, and equations. Where necessary, bracket
your special needs with the symbols shown, and we will search and
replace with the appropriate text.

Examples of special text symbols (to be used only if abstract
submitted as ASCII text).
Italics      (Use quote marks) "Ceriodaphnia dubia"
Underline      (Use the underline) _Quercus rubra_
Superscript      (Use the up carat) ^2^
Subscript      (Use the @ sign) SO@4@
Greek letters      (?)(spell out)   (?)SIGMA

  ***ALL PRESENTERS MUST REGISTER FOR THE MEETING***
 PROGRAM NOTE: Three forms of audio visual presentations will be
 available at the symposium: 35mm (2"x2") slides, overheads, and
 computer-generated presentations (e.g., Powerpoint7). ONLY ONE FORM
 CAN BE USED BY EACH PRESENTER

Mail one UNFOLDED copy of the abstract to:

SETAC Office
1010 North 12th Avenue
Pensacola, FL 32501-3370 USA
T 850 469 1500

Mail one copy of your disk to:
SETAC Office
1010 North 12th Avenue
Pensacola, FL 32501-3370 USA
T 850 469 1500

Email you attached message abstract to:

ecovuln@setac.org

If you have any further questions, email:abshelp@setac.org


Greg Schiefer, Assistant Executive Director
Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry
1010 North 12th Avenue
Pensacola, Florida 32501-3370 USA
T 850 469 1500  F 850 469 9778  E schiefer@setac.org
http://www.setac.org