Identification of ecologically relevant species for ecological risk assessment: A proposal from theoretical ecology Identifi cación de especies ecológicamente relevantes para la Evaluación de Riesgo Ecológico: Una propuesta desde la ecología teórica

Abstract

Based on recent advances in ecological network theory, we present an ad hoc conceptual framework and a methodological proposal for the evaluation of the ecological relevance of species within a community, oriented towards the Ecological Risk Assessment in Chilean aquatic systems. The procedure is theoretical and based on the quality of available information, i.e. it does not require experimental tests or fi eld observation. Given the current and mediumterm expected state of knowledge about the structure of local aquatic communities, the proposed method is focused towards its application to communities whose level of knowledge is low or medium. The proposal uses qualitative criteria and quantitative indices (seven topological indices and one index based on qualitative modeling) for the identifi cation of ecologically relevant species that represent at least three trophic categories within the community.