This book is a collection of case studies involving population-level ecological risk assessment, each of which uses RAMAS GIS software in its analysis. It illustrates the use of population-level ecological risk assessment and some of the shortfalls and difficulties associated with it. The intended audience includes professional risk assessors and graduate students seeking to increase their proficiency with risk assessment within the framework of a population-level approach. The book is attractive and the type set is easy to read. However, the clarity and readability of the figures vary widely, so much so that some of the figures are difficult to interpret and thus do not support the text as they should.
The editors have succeeded in drawing together case studies examining a diverse array of taxa ranging from aquatic invertebrates to terrestrial mammals. The contaminants and risk scenarios considered among the case studies are similarly broad. The diversity of life history strategies and questions upholds the goal of broad illustration of the general approach of population-level ecological risk assessment. In addition, the individual chapters are generally well written and the problem in each clearly described, as are the approaches the authors took.
However, the book's usefulness as an overview and as a teaching tool might have been greatly improved had more work gone into editing the chapters to ensure more consistency, particularly regarding discussions of what assumptions were made during the process of defining a model and why, what if any decisions were limited by software capabilities or available data, and a better explanation of the files each chapter has contributed to the CD ROM that accompanies the book. Some chapters spend considerable time on these topics, but others do not; although this is due in part to the inherently greater suitability of the software for some questions and models than others, more explicit discussion of this would have assisted the reader. In addition, more focus on discussions of modelling decisions may have helped the text's usefulness by drawing more attention to the process of population-level ecological risk assessment rather than simply on how the software was used in that particular case.
Second, the inclusion of the CD ROM does allow the reader an inside look into the models themselves and the parameters as they are translated into the software package. If someone is learning to use RAMAS GIS or wants to see a specific model illustrated, this may be valuable. From the standpoint of understanding the ramifications of how modelling and parameterization choices affect outcome, however, the inability to change any of the settings sharply limits the CD ROM's usefulness as a learning tool. As it is increasingly common to see software diskettes included in books, it would be of great benefit to the readers if these could be designed so that some amount of flexibility could be included for the users to explore the models to a limited extent, while still protecting the software company's licensing agreements. Unless a reader is particularly interested in learning to use RAMAS GIS, the current lack of flexibility renders the CD of limited value.
Despite the limitations, the book manages to avoid coming across as a 17-chapter promotion of RAMAS GIS software, and there is considerable scientific merit in the papers presented. The range of modelling approaches and problems addressed does much to illustrate the potential power and usefulness of population-level ecological risk assessment.
