EPA EcoBox Tools by Receptors - Habitats and Ecosystems

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Overview

Habitat and Ecosystems
ERAs can adverse ecological effects Changes that are considered undesirable because they alter valued structural or functional characteristics of ecosystems or their components. An evaluation of adversity may consider the type, intensity, and scale of the effect as well as the potential for recovery. beyond the individual or species level and might consider effects at a larger scale like a habitat or ecosystem. Potentially exposed habitats might include sensitive or critical habitats of species protected under the ESA.

For a habitat or ecosystem, an array of assessment endpoints An explicit expression of the environmental value to be protected, operationally defined as an ecological entity and its attributes. that represent the community and associated ecological processes might be more effective than a single endpoint. Adverse effects on a habitat or ecosystem might be inferred from changes in structure (components), function (processes), and other characteristics that reduce its ability to support plant and animal populations and communities.

Habitat versus Ecosystem: What is the Distinction?

A habitat is the place where a population of plants or animals lives, grows, and reproduces. A habitat could be small (e.g., a log) or large (e.g., desert) and is one component of an ecosystem.

An ecosystem (e.g., river, forest) is a cyclical system that includes the biotic community and abiotic environment within a specified location in space and time (U.S. EPA, 1996; EPA, 2014). A river ecosystem includes all the birds, fish, aquatic invertebrates, algae, and bacteria living in that river, as well as the rocks, sand, soil, and water in that river. In the case of a forest, the ecosystem includes the soils, rocks, streams, springs, and the resident organisms that make up the forest community.

Ecosystems may vary in terms of spatial scale from the entire globe at one end of the spectrum to small spatial scales such as a pond. Within each ecosystem, there are typically multiple habitats.

Ecosystem goods and services include benefits human receive from nature. For example, ecological functions and processes that directly or indirectly benefits to human such as clean air and water, flood control, and fertile soil. Incorporating ecosystem service endpoints into ERAs may improve risk communication and risk management decisions. EPA recently expanded the Generic Ecological Assessment Endpoints (GEAEs) by adding generic ecosystem services endpoints (U.S. EPA 2016).

Tools

There are several habitat- and ecosystem-level tools shown below that might be helpful in conducting an ERA.

In addition to the tools shown below, there are many available sources of information and data related to the fate and transport of contaminants in environmental media and the transfer of contaminants from an environmental medium to receptor. See the Chemical module of the Stressors Tool Set for information and tools on fate and transport related to chemical stressors.

See the Food Chains and Webs module of the Exposure Pathways (Media) Tool Set for information, data sources, and modeling tools available to help in the evaluation of food chain and food web contaminant transfers in an ERA.

 

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Last updated on May 21, 2025