Toward an Ecological Framework for Assessing Risk to Vertebrate Populations from Brine and Petroleum Spills at Exploration and Production Sites

REFERENCE: Efroymson, R. A., Carlsen, T. M., Jager, H. I., Kostova, T., Carr, E. A., Hargrove, W. W., Kercher, J., and Ashwood, T. L., “Toward a Framework for Assessing Risk to Vertebrate Populations from Brine and Petroleum Spills at Exploration and Production Sites,” Landscape Ecology and Wildlife Habitat Evaluation: Critical Information for Ecological Risk Assessment, Land-Use Management Activities, and Biodiversity Enhancement Practices, ASTM STP 1458, L. Kapustka, H. Galbraith, M. Luxon, and G. R. Biddinger, Eds., ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA, 2004. ABSTRACT: Brine and petroleum spills may affect terrestrial vertebrates through loss of reproductive habitat or reduced food availability rather than direct toxicity. A proposed ecological framework for evaluating impacts of these spills includes individual-based population models, a site conceptual trophic model, habitat suitability maps, and a stochastic brine spill generator. Simulation results for mammal populations in the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve petroleum exploration and production (EP above this threshold the time to extinction decreased with increasing spill area. Vole density was sensitive to the interaction of predation and fragmentation, with fragmentation causing population extinction in the presence of predation, yet stabilizing the population in the absence of predation. We anticipate that our results will aid in future development of “exclusion criteria” for leaving unrestored habitat at E&P sites.