OEHHA has been working with the California Water and Land Use Partnership to educate land use decision makers and their staff about the link between land use and natural resource protection.
Ecotoxicology
The mission of the Ecotoxicology Program within the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) is to advance the science and practice of ecological risk assessment (ERA). We focus on developing tools and technical resources to assess the impacts of chemical, physical, and biological stressors on ecosystems. Our current focus is on aquatic ecosystems.
Our Program was established in 1993 with the goal of applying tools from the developing field of human heath risk assessment to address the risks caused by chemicals on California’s ecosystems. In 1998, the US EPA adopted a set of Guidelines for “evaluating the likelihood that adverse ecological effects may occur or are occurring as a result of exposure to one or more physical, chemical, or biological stressors”. ERA is based on a simple three-step process which includes a) identifying the problem or stressor(s) of concern, b) analyzing the stressors by characterizing their exposure and ecological effects, and c) characterizing risk using a variety of methods. The work of the OEHHA Ecotoxicology Program is currently focused on applying this approach to understanding risks to the State’s aquatic resources.
To inquire about our Program, contact Rebecca.Stanton@oehha.ca.gov
Reports, Notices, Documents
This fact sheet on low impact development (LID) provides a solution to minimize or eliminate the impacts on the water cycle caused by paving over large areas of land, and reviews the basic principles of LID, its benefits and implementation challenges, its use in new and re-development, and provides examples of its application in urban and suburban environments.
This document is one of a series of technical resources and tools prepared by the Ecotoxicology Unit (OEHHA) as part of our goal of advancing the science and practice of ecological risk assessment.
The California Wildlife Biology, Exposure Factor, and Toxicity Database (CalEcotox) is a compilation of physiological and ecological parameters and toxicity data for a number of California fish and wildlife.
Exposure factor reports contain all the CalEcotox exposure factor data for selected wildlife species.
The California Wildlife Biology, Exposure Factor, and Toxicity Database (Cal/Ecotox) is a compilation of physiological and ecological parameters and toxicity data for a number of California fish and wildlife.