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ecorisk is a package for risk assessment analysis in marine sciences, but can also be applied to terrestrial ecosystems. Risk assessments are an integral part of integrated ecosystem assessments, which are used within ecosystem based management (Levin et al. 2014). The implementation of risk assessments to support ecosystem based management faces a number of challenges, this includes for example
To better support application of risk assessments in ecosystem based management this package implements a modular framework, where single indicator and pressure combinations are semiquantitatively or quantitatively evaluated and thereafter aggregated to compound risks as well as an ecosystem risk score. The highlights of this framework include:
First this vignette will give you a short introduction of common risk assessment methods and the terminology used within this package. You will find this together with a short workflow description in the first chapter. The second chapter covers the risk assessment procedure. The implementation and detailed description of the usage of the ecorisk functions will be given in chapter 3 and chapter 4.
Risk assessments are well known in various scientific fields. This package focuses on marine science (but this does not exclude the application in another context). Within this field, risk assessment methods are commonly divided into qualitative, semiquantitative and quantitative approaches. Additionally risk assessments are classified according to their level of complexity (based on (Holsman et al. 2017)):
Level 1: effects of one pressure on one indicator
Level 2: effects of multiple pressures on one indicator
Level 3: effects of multiple pressures on multiple indicators
Level 3 can be considered as ecosystem level, if the effects of the pressures on the indicators are aggregated and not considered individually. Table 1 gives an overview of applied risk assessment methods assigned to the associated data level and complexity.
Table 1: Overview of different risk assessment methods with papers applying those. Some methods have been applied at different data and complexity levels and are therefore mentioned more often.
| Data / Complexity level | qualitative | semiquantitative | quantitative antitative |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Likelihood- Consequence approach (W. J. Fletcher 2005) | Productivity - Susceptibility approach (Patrick et al. 2010; Stobutzki, Miller, and Brewer 2001) | Dose-response assessments (Fahd, Veitch, and Khan 2019; Håkanson 1980; Kramer et al. 2011; Long et al. 1995) |
| Level 2 | Qualitative network model (Giakoumi et al. 2015) | Qualitative network model (Altman et al. 2011; Cook, Fletcher, and Kelble 2014; Reum et al. 2015) Vulnerability analysis (Allison et al. 2009; Cinner et al. 2012; Cinner et al. 2013; Gaichas, Link, and Hare 2014; Graham et al. 2011; Hare et al. 2016) ODEMM framework (Knights et al. 2015) | Ecosystem modelling * (Fu et al. 2018) |
| Level 3 | Qualitative network model (Altman et al. 2011; P. J. Fletcher et al. 2014) Vulnerability analysis (Gaichas, Link, and Hare 2014) ODEMM framework (Knights et al. 2015) | Ecosystem modelling * (Fu et al. 2018) |
* ecosystem approaches are marked with a *
The central question of each risk assessment is:
What is the risk that given the effect of the pressure x on the indicator y, y will reach or remain in an undesirable status?
To evaluate this question various methods have been developed (Fernandes, Vieira da Silva, and Frazão Santos 2022). An often used approach is to assess the exposure of the pressure and the sensitivity of the indicator, but several synonyms are used, thus complicating comparability of the methods. In addition to these two axes some methods assess a third axis: the adaptive capacity or resilience of the indicator. All three compartments are then combined to the vulnerability or in some methods to the risk. Within this framework exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity form together the vulnerability. Since the central question includes the current status of the indicator, this has to be included in the risk assessment. (Those methods that do not require status assessment can still use the output values of the vulnerability function of this package and treat them as output of the risk assessment ). In the end risk (or vulnerability) scores help to identify, understand and prioritize the risks resulting from different pressures (International Organization for Standardization 2009).
With this package we want to facilitate application of risk assessments in information rich and limited situations. We want to encourage users to incorporate different knowledge types, to widen the evidence base. For this purpose ecorisk combines semiquantitative scoring approaches with time series based modelling in one assessment. The framework is build in a modular and flexible manner, covering all complexity levels (see chapter Overview risk assessments). With ecorisk individual species can be used as indicators as well as integrated biodiversity, food web or life-history indices, for example the HELCOM zooplankton mean size indicator (HELCOM, n.d.) or the OSPAR large fish index (Lynam, C.P. and Piet, G.J. 2023). The framework allows to assess long term pressures as well as short term extreme events, while explicitly accounting for the associated uncertainty. The package is generalistic in terms of the considered spatial and temporal scale and can be applied to a wide range of ecosystems. To enhance communication to a broader public ecorisk provides different plotting functions, which can be customized later on. In the next subchapter you get a brief overview of the ecorisk package and its workflow. If you directly want to learn how you can perform a risk assessment go to chapter 2 and chapter 3. For example application of the ecorisk functions go to chapter 4.
The ecorisk package supports the ecorisk framework (Gutte et al., in prep) by providing tools for analysis, assessment and communication. The workflow starts with two pathways, which are later on combined to one. One pathway provides functions for expert scoring approaches, the other for risk assessments based on time series data. Both pathways analyse the two vulnerability components exposure and sensitivity for each indicator ~ pressure combination. The adaptive capacity can be analysed within the expert scoring pathway. Both pathways optionally assess the associated uncertainty of of each component. After assessment of exposure and sensitivity the package continues within one joint pathway by combining the vulnerability components, assessing the status of each indicator, followed by the calculation of the risk from vulnerability and status. Now the risk scores from each indicator ~ pressure combination can be aggregated to higher complexity levels up to the (eco-)system risk score, which can be plotted thereafter. The next chapters describe in detail how such a risk assessment can be conducted (chapter 2) and the usage of the individual functions (chapter 3).
To conduct a risk assessment it is useful to split the process into several parts (Hare et al. 2016):
In the following the four phases are explained in the ecorisk context.
In the first phase the risk question(s) should be clearly defined. The risk question should also define all relevant spatial and temporal scales. Based on these definitions representative indicators and pressures are chosen for the assessment. Once the selection has been conducted all available data (literature or time series data in the ecorisk context) will be gathered.
The preparation depends on the data level of the assessment. For semiquantitative expert scoring it is useful to prepare factsheets about the indicators and the influence of the pressures on them. Scoring guidelines should clearly define each score the experts can give and a scoring template supports an easier analysis of the given scores. For the quantitative time series approach all data must be aggregated to yearly values, e.g. yearly mean temperature or maximum chlorophyll-a concentrations in spring.
In the semiquantitative pathway experts will score the risk components exposure, sensitivity and optionally the adaptive capacity. For a better compatibility with the quantitative pathway the following scoring scheme is suggested.
Exposure (E) 1 - 5 (low to high impact)
Sensitivity (S) -5 - 5 (high negative impact - high positive impact, a 0 means no influence)
Adaptive capacity (AC) -1 - 1 (no adaptive capacity to good adaptive capacity)
For all scorings it is recommended to score the associated uncertainty on a scale from 1 to 3 (low to high).
The individual expert scorings will be aggregated using the ecorisk functions for the semiquantitative pathway.
The status can be assessed by the experts too or based on thresholds from the literature (e.g. HELCOM indicator status reports, IUCN red list entries).
For the quantitative pathway the prepared time series are analysed with the ecorisk functions. These will score the exposure, sensitivity and status of the indicator based on the dynamics of the time series. Ecorisk automatically evaluates the uncertainty associated with the exposure and sensitivity scores.
The scores from the previous step will be now combined. First vulnerability (V) is calculated as follows: \(V = (-S + AC) - E\)
or if sensitivity was scored to be positive:
\(V = (S + AC) + E\)
The vulnerability scores are afterwards combined with the status to derive the final risk scores. The risk scores can the be combined to higher complexity level, i.e. cumulative effects of the pressures, cumulative impacts on the indicators and ecosystem risk scores.
The ecorisk package supports the ecorisk framework (Gutte et al., in prep.). It provides functions for the semiquantitative expert scoring and a time series based quantitative approach. Ecorisk supports the integration of different knowledge types, iterative risk assessment processes and the analysis of integrated indicators. The ecorisk workflow is split at the beginning into two pathways (Figure 1), depending on the data input. In each pathway individual indicator pressure combinations are analysed for their risk. The pathways are combined again for the assessment of vulnerability and risk.
{width=“600”, height
= “800”}
For the risk assessment with the ecorisk package the user should have
conducted an expert scoring exercise or prepared time series to analyse.
Example data sets can be found in the ecorisk package. Templates for
exposure and a sensitivity and adaptive capacity scoring can be created
using the functions create_template_exposure() and
crt_sensitivity(). The output can be saved as csv or excel
file. After they have been filled out by the experts, they can directly
be anayzed further with the ecorisk workflow.
The expert scorings are analysed with the functions
calc_exposure() and calc_sensitivity(). Both
aggregate the scores given by the individual expert. In case several
traits have been assessed for the indicators sensitivity, the function
will calculate an aggregated sensitivity score, but will keep the
trait-based scores, thus the vulnerability can be calculated first per
trait and only afterwards be aggregated.
To calculate an exposure score the function
model_exposure() analyses the time series of the pressure.
The user has to provide a base line to which the assessment time frame
should be compared. The function evaluates
how much the conditions of the pressure in the assessment time frame differ compared to the baseline measured in standard deviations,
how often a significant deviation (> 1 standard deviation) from the baseline can be observed in the assessment time frame and
how the future trend of the pressure will likely be based on a linear model.
The function gives for each compartment a score from 1 - 5 (low to
high) and the future direction of the pressure (increase or decrease). A
spatial scale can not be evaluated by this function, but the user can
provide a score.
The function model_sensitivity() evaluates the indicators
sensitivity towards the pressure based on the relationship of the
indicator and pressure time series. The relationship will be analysed
using a generalized additive model. It is tested whether the
relationship is significant, if so the strength of the relationship
(\(R^2\)) is used to set a score from 1
- 5 (low to high). In case the relationship is non-linear (edf > 1),
the sensitivity score will be increased by 1. Whether the relationship
between indicator and pressure in the assessment time frame is positive
or negative is evaluated using the slope of a linear model. The
uncertainty is scored from 1 - 3 (low to high) based on the relation of
the confidence intervals of the GAM to the overall range of the input
data.
The vulnerability() function uses the scores from the
semiquantitative and the quantitative pathway and combines for each
indicator ~ pressure combination the exposure and sensitivity scores.
For the semiquantitative pathway the following equations are applied
(assuming that the experts assessed the ongoing dynamics of pressure and
indicator, meaning a negative expert sensitivity score is negative due
to the pressure dynamics, e.g. the temperature increases which is bad
for the indicator and thus the indicator gets a negative sensitivity
score):
\(V = (-S + AC) - E\) \(V = (S + AC) + E\)
In the modelling pathway the direction of the vulnerability depends on the directions supplied by the model_exposure and model_sensitivity functions. If both have the same direction a positive effect is assumed, if they have different direction the vulnerability score will be negative, sensitivity and exposure are again summed up to derive the vulnerability score.
The function status() compares the conditions of the
indicator in the assessment time frame to the baseline conditions. The
status can be either good or undesired, depending on whether the
indicator stays within the predefined thresholds or not. The user can
parameterize whether the indicator should be in similar conditions as
during the baseline or outside of these conditions. The user can also
use semiquantitative data to assess the status by themselves.
The final risk score will be calculated by the function
risk(). It combines the vulnerability and the status scores
to a risk score per indicator ~ pressure combination.
The risk scores from all indicator pressure combinations are aggregated to
multi pressure risk scores (all pressures affecting one indicator)
multi indicator risk scores (all indicators affected by one pressure) and
a system risk based on all multi pressure risk scores
using the function aggregate_risk(). If the user has the
scores from several experts it is recommended to run the analysis for
the scores of each expert individually and aggregate the risk scores and
aggregated risk scores from all experts afterwards. This also allows to
assess variance between experts.
The results of the risk assessment can be analysed using the two
ecorisk plotting functions plot_radar() and
plot_heatmap(). The first one shows per indicator the multi
pressure risk and the individual risk scores, deriving the multi
pressure risk score. The heatmap plot gives an overview over all
assessment results. In the bottom right corner it provides the system
risk, the map shows the risks for each indicator pressure combination
and to the left and at the bottom the multi pressure / multi indicator
risks are displayed. Both plotting functions can show the associated
uncertainty.
Let’s suppose we want to conduct a risk assessment for a fictional marine ecosystem. We want to investigate whether the system is at risk of being in an undesired state due to 5 ongoing pressures:
To best represent our ecosystem we choose state indicators from different trophic levels: phytoplankton, zooplankton, two fish species (herring and cod), and seabirds. For some of these we have more or less detailed expert knowledge and for some of them we have time series representing this state indicator. Thus we decide on the following assessment scheme using both the expert scoring and the modelling pathway of ecorisk:
| Trait | General | Model |
|---|---|---|
| Cod | Phytoplankton | Cod spawning stock biomass |
| Herring | Seabirds | Zooplankton mean size |
For the two fish species enough knowledge is available for a detail expert scoring using species traits. Phytoplankton and seabirds are larger species groups, a scoring on a trait basis would be very difficult, therefore the experts will give here only one general score for sensitivity and adaptive capacity of these two groups. The time series we want to use for the modeling approach are i) spawning stock biomass of the cod stock as indicator for the health of the species and ii) zooplankton mean size which represents the status of the zooplankton group and gives an indication about the status of the food web. The pressures will be assessed using both pathways.
First step is to create the scoring tables, which will be filled out
by our experts. With the functions
create_template_exposure() and
crt_sensitivity(), we can automatically create tables for
further usage in the ecorisk workflow. The functions need the names of
the pressures and for sensitivity also the names of the indicators. For
exposure we want to investigate 4 components:
the magnitude of change,
the future trend,
the frequency of the change and
the spatial coverage of the change in the ecosystem.
To define vulnerability the experts should score the sensitivity and the adaptive capacity. They should differentiate between two types of effect: direct effects only and the combination of direct and indirect effects. Indirect effects occur for example due to food web interactions. If possible the experts will score four individual species traits:
Feeding
Behaviour
Reproduction
Habitat
otherwise they will give general sensitivity and adaptive capacity scores. Both the exposure and the sensitivity scoring include an uncertainty assessment. As a second step we rename the variables in our scoring templates.
exposure_scoring <- create_template_exposure(
pressures = c("temperature", "salinity", "oxygen", "nutrient", "fishing"),
n_components = 4,
mode_uncertainty = "component"
)
names(exposure_scoring)
#> [1] "pressure" "component_1"
#> [3] "component_2" "component_3"
#> [5] "component_4" "uncertainty_component_1"
#> [7] "uncertainty_component_2" "uncertainty_component_3"
#> [9] "uncertainty_component_4"
# Rename exposure components
names(exposure_scoring)[2:9] <- c("magnitude", "frequency", "trend", "spatial",
"uncertainty_magnitude", "uncertainty_frequency",
"uncertainty_trend", "uncertainty_spatial")
sensitivity_scoring <- create_template_sensitivity(
indicators = c("phytoplankton", "herring", "cod", "seabirds"),
pressures = c("temperature", "salinity", "oxygen", "nutrient", "fishing"),
type = c("direct", "direct_indirect"),
n_sensitivity_traits = 5,
mode_adaptive_capacity = "trait",
mode_uncertainty = "trait"
)
names(sensitivity_scoring)
#> [1] "indicator" "pressure"
#> [3] "type" "sens_trait_1"
#> [5] "sens_trait_2" "sens_trait_3"
#> [7] "sens_trait_4" "sens_trait_5"
#> [9] "ac_trait_1" "ac_trait_2"
#> [11] "ac_trait_3" "ac_trait_4"
#> [13] "ac_trait_5" "uncertainty_sens_trait_1"
#> [15] "uncertainty_sens_trait_2" "uncertainty_sens_trait_3"
#> [17] "uncertainty_sens_trait_4" "uncertainty_sens_trait_5"
#> [19] "uncertainty_ac_trait_1" "uncertainty_ac_trait_2"
#> [21] "uncertainty_ac_trait_3" "uncertainty_ac_trait_4"
#> [23] "uncertainty_ac_trait_5"
# Replaice the generic traits names ('...trait_1', '...trait_2') with
# the actual trait names
names(sensitivity_scoring) <- names(sensitivity_scoring) |>
stringr::str_replace("trait_1$", "feeding") |>
stringr::str_replace("trait_2$", "behaviour") |>
stringr::str_replace("trait_3$", "reproduction") |>
stringr::str_replace("trait_4$", "habitat") |>
stringr::str_replace("trait_5$", "general") The experts have filled out the scoring tables in a joint exercise, thus we do not have to aggregate the individual expert scores. If individual expert scores are given, it is recommended to follow the work flow until the risk calculation and aggregation of risk scores is completed and then aggregate these scores across all experts. This allows for more precise and detailed results, as differences in the results between experts can be evaluated.
exposure_scoring <- ex_expert_exposure
head(exposure_scoring)
#> pressure magnitude frequency trend spatial uncertainty_magnitude
#> 1 temperature 1 1 4 5 1
#> 2 salinity 1 4 1 3 2
#> 3 oxygen 1 1 1 2 2
#> 4 nutrient 2 2 3 2 1
#> 5 fishing 5 4 5 2 3
#> uncertainty_frequency uncertainty_trend uncertainty_spatial
#> 1 1 3 3
#> 2 2 2 2
#> 3 2 3 3
#> 4 2 2 3
#> 5 1 2 1
sensitivity_scoring <- ex_expert_sensitivity
head(sensitivity_scoring)
#> indicator pressure type sens_feeding sens_behaviour
#> 1 phytoplankton temperature direct NA NA
#> 2 phytoplankton salinity direct NA NA
#> 3 phytoplankton oxygen direct NA NA
#> 4 phytoplankton nutrient direct NA NA
#> 5 phytoplankton fishing direct NA NA
#> 6 phytoplankton temperature direct_indirect NA NA
#> sens_reproduction sens_habitat sens_general ac_feeding ac_behaviour
#> 1 NA NA -3 NA NA
#> 2 NA NA 0 NA NA
#> 3 NA NA -2 NA NA
#> 4 NA NA -3 NA NA
#> 5 NA NA 0 NA NA
#> 6 NA NA -4 NA NA
#> ac_reproduction ac_habitat ac_general uncertainty_sens_feeding
#> 1 NA NA 1 NA
#> 2 NA NA 1 NA
#> 3 NA NA 1 NA
#> 4 NA NA 1 NA
#> 5 NA NA 0 NA
#> 6 NA NA 1 NA
#> uncertainty_sens_behaviour uncertainty_sens_reproduction
#> 1 NA NA
#> 2 NA NA
#> 3 NA NA
#> 4 NA NA
#> 5 NA NA
#> 6 NA NA
#> uncertainty_sens_habitat uncertainty_sens_general uncertainty_ac_feeding
#> 1 NA 1 NA
#> 2 NA 2 NA
#> 3 NA 2 NA
#> 4 NA 2 NA
#> 5 NA 1 NA
#> 6 NA 1 NA
#> uncertainty_ac_behaviour uncertainty_ac_reproduction uncertainty_ac_habitat
#> 1 NA NA NA
#> 2 NA NA NA
#> 3 NA NA NA
#> 4 NA NA NA
#> 5 NA NA NA
#> 6 NA NA NA
#> uncertainty_ac_general
#> 1 1
#> 2 2
#> 3 2
#> 4 2
#> 5 1
#> 6 1The experts followed this scoring scheme:
Exposure 1- 5 (low to high)
Sensitivity -5 - 5 (high negative to high positive influence)
Adaptive capacity -1 - 1 (low to high)
Uncertainty 1 - 3 (low to high)
For more information about this scheme see also section 2.3. Scoring. This scoring scheme aligns with the results of the modelling pathway.
To prepare the modelling pathway we load our time series data. The data includes indicator variables for our five pressures and two state indicators (cod and zooplankton). The data covers a time frame from 1984 to 2016. The data was created based on trends of similar indicators from the Baltic Sea. There is another example data set with data from the North Sea.
ts_pressures <- pressure_ts_baltic
head(ts_pressures)
#> year nitrogen phosphorous surf_temp_sum bot_temp_ann surf_sal_sum bot_sal_ann
#> 1 1984 20.75630 0.5909141 14.64714 4.626137 6.177466 8.831664
#> 2 1985 20.69365 0.5167932 12.24114 4.049684 6.206347 8.715647
#> 3 1986 21.00117 0.5564102 12.24247 4.047897 6.228291 8.144442
#> 4 1987 21.12562 0.4828138 10.25126 3.915981 5.984160 8.349860
#> 5 1988 19.33260 0.5308540 13.96107 4.418284 5.909042 8.166351
#> 6 1989 20.88782 0.5963618 13.65516 4.942516 5.875959 7.925876
#> bot_oxy_ann fishing_cod
#> 1 4.298515 0.7798201
#> 2 4.325501 0.7705255
#> 3 4.598441 0.9276049
#> 4 4.310448 0.8718370
#> 5 4.096484 0.8253639
#> 6 4.248611 0.9619950
ts_indicators <- indicator_ts_baltic
head(ts_indicators)
#> year zooplankton_mean_size eastern_baltic_cod
#> 1 1984 24.46262 662.0919
#> 2 1985 11.72344 548.5772
#> 3 1986 13.71266 402.0580
#> 4 1987 15.14893 322.6262
#> 5 1988 24.91170 301.2875
#> 6 1989 11.86890 241.8906Now we will calculate exposure and sensitivity scores in both
pathways. We start with the expert scoring pathway using the functions
calc_exposure() and calc_sensitivity(). They
calculate from the exposure components and sensitivity trait scores
general scores using an aggregation method selected by the user. We will
use the arithmetic mean to aggregate component and trait scores. Other
options are median, minimum or maximum.
exp_expert <- calc_exposure(
pressures = exposure_scoring$pressure,
components = exposure_scoring[ ,2:5],
uncertainty = exposure_scoring[ ,6:9],
method = "mean"
)
head(exp_expert)
#> pressure exposure uncertainty
#> 1 temperature 2.75 2.00
#> 2 salinity 2.25 2.00
#> 3 oxygen 1.25 2.50
#> 4 nutrient 2.25 2.00
#> 5 fishing 4.00 1.75
sens_ac_expert <- calc_sensitivity(
indicators = sensitivity_scoring$indicator,
pressures = sensitivity_scoring$pressure,
type = sensitivity_scoring$type,
sensitivity_traits = sensitivity_scoring[ ,4:8],
adaptive_capacities = sensitivity_scoring[ ,9:13],
uncertainty_sens = sensitivity_scoring[ ,14:18],
uncertainty_ac = sensitivity_scoring[ ,19:23],
method = "mean"
)
head(sens_ac_expert)
#> indicator pressure type pathway sensitivity
#> 1 phytoplankton temperature direct expert -3
#> 2 phytoplankton salinity direct expert 0
#> 3 phytoplankton oxygen direct expert -2
#> 4 phytoplankton nutrient direct expert -3
#> 5 phytoplankton fishing direct expert 0
#> 6 phytoplankton temperature direct_indirect expert -4
#> adaptive_capacity uncertainty_sens uncertainty_ac sens_original.sens_feeding
#> 1 1 1 1 NA
#> 2 1 2 2 NA
#> 3 1 2 2 NA
#> 4 1 2 2 NA
#> 5 0 1 1 NA
#> 6 1 1 1 NA
#> sens_original.sens_behaviour sens_original.sens_reproduction
#> 1 NA NA
#> 2 NA NA
#> 3 NA NA
#> 4 NA NA
#> 5 NA NA
#> 6 NA NA
#> sens_original.sens_habitat sens_original.sens_general ac_original.ac_feeding
#> 1 NA -3 NA
#> 2 NA 0 NA
#> 3 NA -2 NA
#> 4 NA -3 NA
#> 5 NA 0 NA
#> 6 NA -4 NA
#> ac_original.ac_behaviour ac_original.ac_reproduction ac_original.ac_habitat
#> 1 NA NA NA
#> 2 NA NA NA
#> 3 NA NA NA
#> 4 NA NA NA
#> 5 NA NA NA
#> 6 NA NA NA
#> ac_original.ac_general
#> 1 1
#> 2 1
#> 3 1
#> 4 1
#> 5 0
#> 6 1Both data sets now contain the aggregated expert scores. The sensitivity dataset also contains the initial expert scores, thus we can still calculate vulnerability for each trait individually, which will lead to more precise results. Additionally the last column gives information about the pathway of the scores to compare later on the results from both pathways.
In the modelling pathway we use the functions
model_exposure() and model_sensitivity(). To
assess exposure based on a time series we have to define a period where
baseline conditions are assumed, the baseline conditions are then
compared to the conditions in the assessment time period. In this
tutorial the baseline is set to the first 10 years of the time series
and the assessment time period are the last 5 years of the time series.
Since baseline conditions are considered as “good” for our ecosystem all
pressures should return to baseline conditions, we specify this with the
argument trend. The spatial scale cannot be assessed with temporal data
only, thus we have to specify the scores. We use here the same value for
the spatial component that the experts gave for the pressures in the
expert scoring.
exposure_model <- model_exposure(
pressure_time_series = ts_pressures,
base_years = c(start = 1984, end = 1993),
current_years = c(start = 2007, end = 2016),
trend = "return",
spatial = c(2, 2, 5, 5, 3, 3, 2, 2)
)
#> Registered S3 method overwritten by 'quantmod':
#> method from
#> as.zoo.data.frame zoo
exposure_model
#> pressure exposure uncertainty comp_magnitude comp_frequency comp_trend
#> 1 nitrogen 3.25 2 3 5 3
#> 2 phosphorous 2.00 2 1 2 3
#> 3 surf_temp_sum 3.25 2 2 3 3
#> 4 bot_temp_ann 3.50 2 2 4 3
#> 5 surf_sal_sum 3.25 2 2 5 3
#> 6 bot_sal_ann 2.75 3 1 3 4
#> 7 bot_oxy_ann 3.00 2 2 5 3
#> 8 fishing_cod 3.25 3 3 5 3
#> comp_direction comp_spatial uncertainty_arima uncertainty_gam mean_baseline
#> 1 increase 2 2 3 19.8141436
#> 2 increase 2 2 2 0.5734645
#> 3 increase 5 2 2 13.2227690
#> 4 increase 5 2 2 4.7876146
#> 5 decrease 3 2 2 5.9609406
#> 6 decrease 3 3 3 8.2235847
#> 7 decrease 2 2 2 4.4527522
#> 8 decrease 2 3 3 0.8957243
#> mean_current standard_deviation_baseline slope_linear_model
#> 1 22.4085515 1.27462524 0.13135681
#> 2 0.6287693 0.07808664 0.15626299
#> 3 14.7021123 1.33356555 0.20863265
#> 4 6.1324167 0.72058273 0.02144553
#> 5 5.6123374 0.18378270 -0.12287663
#> 6 7.9426842 0.33153236 -0.30833474
#> 7 4.0093738 0.26302107 -0.15798683
#> 8 0.4765706 0.20083878 -0.13339762
#> p_value_linear_model
#> 1 2.550606e-01
#> 2 1.672706e-01
#> 3 5.010921e-02
#> 4 8.585639e-01
#> 5 2.897796e-01
#> 6 7.878018e-05
#> 7 1.619831e-01
#> 8 2.470676e-01The output gives us the aggregated exposure score, which is the
arithmetic mean of all exposure components. These are the same
components that have been evaluated by our experts. The
model_exposure() function does not evaluate the associated
uncertainty.
We should check for all pressures if the direction is capturing the correct dynamics and not only a short term fluctuation.
To assess sensitivity with time series data we also have to specify the assessment time period to determine if the pressure has in the assessment time period a negative or positive influence on the state indicator. The influence is determined using a simple linear model, so we can simply check if the direction was correctly determined using a simple plot. First we set up a data frame specifying for each indicator pressure combination the assessment time period.
sens_ac_model <- model_sensitivity(
indicator_time_series = ts_indicators,
pressure_time_series = pressure_ts_baltic,
current_years = c(start = 2010, end = 2016)
)
sens_ac_model
#> indicator pressure type pathway sensitivity
#> 1 zooplankton_mean_size nitrogen direct_indirect model 3
#> 2 zooplankton_mean_size phosphorous direct_indirect model 0
#> 3 zooplankton_mean_size surf_temp_sum direct_indirect model 0
#> 4 zooplankton_mean_size bot_temp_ann direct_indirect model 0
#> 5 zooplankton_mean_size surf_sal_sum direct_indirect model -1
#> 6 zooplankton_mean_size bot_sal_ann direct_indirect model -1
#> 7 zooplankton_mean_size bot_oxy_ann direct_indirect model 0
#> 8 zooplankton_mean_size fishing_cod direct_indirect model 0
#> 9 eastern_baltic_cod nitrogen direct_indirect model -1
#> 10 eastern_baltic_cod phosphorous direct_indirect model 0
#> 11 eastern_baltic_cod surf_temp_sum direct_indirect model -1
#> 12 eastern_baltic_cod bot_temp_ann direct_indirect model -3
#> 13 eastern_baltic_cod surf_sal_sum direct_indirect model 3
#> 14 eastern_baltic_cod bot_sal_ann direct_indirect model 0
#> 15 eastern_baltic_cod bot_oxy_ann direct_indirect model 1
#> 16 eastern_baltic_cod fishing_cod direct_indirect model -1
#> adaptive_capacity uncertainty_sens uncertainty_ac r_sq p_value
#> 1 0 2 NA 0.2431778963 0.0172601903
#> 2 0 1 NA -0.0002984071 0.3273367464
#> 3 0 1 NA -0.0178499546 0.5125884857
#> 4 0 1 NA 0.0294320635 0.1703455137
#> 5 0 2 NA 0.1005289236 0.0403973732
#> 6 0 2 NA 0.1673089042 0.0706193795
#> 7 0 1 NA -0.0286932790 0.7452975202
#> 8 0 2 NA -0.0301214578 0.8015015038
#> 9 0 2 NA -0.0218030319 0.7902502903
#> 10 0 1 NA 0.0401034383 0.1364793690
#> 11 0 1 NA 0.0987273652 0.0418798313
#> 12 0 1 NA 0.3762302850 0.0009652114
#> 13 0 2 NA 0.7424928607 0.0000000000
#> 14 0 2 NA 0.0584726393 0.0938685078
#> 15 0 1 NA 0.1832875957 0.0517027687
#> 16 0 2 NA 0.0100039535 0.5556690537
#> edf uncertainty_gam uncertainty_arima
#> 1 2.847710 2 2
#> 2 1.000000 1 2
#> 3 1.000000 1 2
#> 4 1.000000 1 2
#> 5 1.000000 2 2
#> 6 2.192887 2 2
#> 7 1.000000 1 2
#> 8 1.000000 2 2
#> 9 1.126509 2 2
#> 10 1.000000 1 2
#> 11 1.000000 1 2
#> 12 2.054487 1 2
#> 13 2.320244 2 2
#> 14 1.000000 2 2
#> 15 2.094211 1 2
#> 16 1.621876 2 2The output of the function contains for each indicator and pressure combination the type of effect, the sensitivity score, the uncertainty associated with the uncertainty scoring and the model parameters that are used for the sensitivity scoring. The function evaluates sensitivity using a generalized additive model, if it is significant the \(R^2\) value is used to set a score between 1 and 5. For non-significant models the score is set to 0. The edf score evaluates non-linearity of the relationships, as these are more risky, the sensitivity will be increased for edf scores >1, but maximum to 5.
Lets continue by calculating the vulnerability for both pathways with
the function vulnerability(). The vulnerability function
combines exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity into the
vulnerability score. For negative sensitivity score the following
function applies:
\(V = (S + AC) - E\) and for positive scores:
\(V = (S + AC) + E\),
where V = vulnerability, S = sensitivity, AC = adaptive capacity and E = exposure. For trait based scoring this will be done for each trait individually. The vulnerabilities of each trait will then be aggregated, we can decide with the parameter method_v if we want to use an arithmetic mean, median, minimum or maximum for the aggregation, same applies for aggregation of trait based uncertainty scores.
vuln_experts <- vulnerability(
exposure_results = exp_expert,
sensitivity_results = sens_ac_expert,
method_vulnerability = "mean",
method_uncertainty = "mean"
)
vuln_model <- vulnerability(
exposure_results = exposure_model,
sensitivity_results = sens_ac_model,
method_vulnerability = "mean",
method_uncertainty = "mean"
)
head(vuln_experts)
#> indicator pressure type pathway vulnerability uncertainty
#> 1 phytoplankton temperature direct expert -4.75 1.333333
#> 2 phytoplankton salinity direct expert 0.00 2.000000
#> 3 phytoplankton oxygen direct expert -2.25 2.166667
#> 4 phytoplankton nutrient direct expert -4.25 2.000000
#> 5 phytoplankton fishing direct expert 0.00 1.250000
#> 6 phytoplankton temperature direct_indirect expert -5.75 1.333333
head(vuln_model)
#> indicator pressure type pathway vulnerability
#> 1 zooplankton_mean_size nitrogen direct_indirect model 6.25
#> 2 zooplankton_mean_size phosphorous direct_indirect model 0.00
#> 3 zooplankton_mean_size surf_temp_sum direct_indirect model 0.00
#> 4 zooplankton_mean_size bot_temp_ann direct_indirect model 0.00
#> 5 zooplankton_mean_size surf_sal_sum direct_indirect model 4.25
#> 6 zooplankton_mean_size bot_sal_ann direct_indirect model 3.75
#> uncertainty
#> 1 2.0
#> 2 1.5
#> 3 1.5
#> 4 1.5
#> 5 2.0
#> 6 2.5The output of the vulnerability gives us for each indicator pressure type combination the vulnerability score with its associated uncertainty and the pathway with which the vulnerability has been determined.
To calculate the risk we need to know whether the indicator is currently in a good or undesired state, since the risk to be in an undesired state is higher if the indicator is already in it. Status can be determined by the experts or using the time series of the indicator. Our experts have assessed that phytoplankton and seabirds are currently in a good state, but herring and cod unfortunately not. An undesired state gets a score of -1 and a good state of +1.
status_experts <- data.frame(
indicator = c("phytoplankton", "herring", "cod", "seabirds"),
status = c("good", "undesired", "undesired", "good"),
score = c(1, -1, -1, 1)
)
status_experts
#> indicator status score
#> 1 phytoplankton good 1
#> 2 herring undesired -1
#> 3 cod undesired -1
#> 4 seabirds good 1In the modelling pathway the function status() evaluates
indicator status based on time series. To assess the status we have to
set baseline conditions where the indicator is assumed to be in a good
status and our assessment time frame for which the status shall be
evaluated (similar to the model_exposure()) function.
Additionally we can set a range around the baseline mean which is
considered as good status. We can specify whether it is undesired if the
indicator is in the assessment time period below or above this range
using the arguments sign and condition. For
our status assessment we assume good baseline conditions in the first
ten years as the mean ± 1 standard deviation. Undesired status is
defined as being below 1 standard deviation so we set sign = “-” and
condition = “<”.
status_model <- status(
indicator_time_series = ts_indicators,
base_years = c(start = 1984, end = 1993),
current_years = c(start = 2012, end = 2016),
sign = "-",
condition = "<"
)
status_model
#> indicator status score
#> 1 zooplankton_mean_size undesired -1
#> 2 eastern_baltic_cod undesired -1Both of our indicators are in the assessment time period in an undesired status.
Now we combine vulnerability and status to the final risk scores.
Both pathways use the function risk().
risk_expert <- risk(
vulnerability = vuln_experts,
status = status_experts
)
risk_model <- risk(
vulnerability = vuln_model,
status = status_model
)
head(risk_expert)
#> indicator pressure type pathway vulnerability status risk
#> 1 phytoplankton temperature direct expert -4.75 good -3.75
#> 2 phytoplankton salinity direct expert 0.00 good 0.00
#> 3 phytoplankton oxygen direct expert -2.25 good -1.25
#> 4 phytoplankton nutrient direct expert -4.25 good -3.25
#> 5 phytoplankton fishing direct expert 0.00 good 0.00
#> 6 phytoplankton temperature direct_indirect expert -5.75 good -4.75
#> uncertainty
#> 1 1.333333
#> 2 2.000000
#> 3 2.166667
#> 4 2.000000
#> 5 1.250000
#> 6 1.333333
head(risk_model)
#> indicator pressure type pathway vulnerability
#> 1 zooplankton_mean_size nitrogen direct_indirect model 6.25
#> 2 zooplankton_mean_size phosphorous direct_indirect model 0.00
#> 3 zooplankton_mean_size surf_temp_sum direct_indirect model 0.00
#> 4 zooplankton_mean_size bot_temp_ann direct_indirect model 0.00
#> 5 zooplankton_mean_size surf_sal_sum direct_indirect model 4.25
#> 6 zooplankton_mean_size bot_sal_ann direct_indirect model 3.75
#> status risk uncertainty
#> 1 undesired 5.25 2.0
#> 2 undesired 0.00 1.5
#> 3 undesired 0.00 1.5
#> 4 undesired 0.00 1.5
#> 5 undesired 3.25 2.0
#> 6 undesired 2.75 2.5The output of the risk function gives us per indicator - pressure - type combination the risk, calculated from vulnerability and status, as well as the uncertainty associated with the risk evaluation. Before we combine both data frames we will rename the pressure variables of the model based risk assessment to align with the names of the expert based assessment. This is necessary to correctly aggregate the risk values per pressure to multi pressure risk scores. Furthermore we will select for each pressure, which has more than one variable one of them. We follow here a precautionary approach thus we will select the one posing the highest risk.
risk_model <- risk_model[c(1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14:16), ]
risk_model$pressure <- c(
"nutrient", "temperature", "salinity", "oxygen", "fishing", # for zooplankton
"nutrient", "temperature", "salinity", "oxygen", "fishing") # for codNow we combine both risk assessment data sets and aggregate them to get multi pressure, multi indicator and ecosystem risk scores. The aggregated score will automatically be calculated per pathway, type, pathway and type, and without accounting for type or pathway.
risks <- rbind(risk_expert, risk_model)
aggregated_risk <- aggregate_risk(
risk_results = risks,
method = "mean"
)
aggregated_risk$multi_indicator_risk
#> pressure type pathway risk uncertainty
#> 5 fishing direct expert -5.062500 1.416667
#> 10 fishing direct_indirect expert -6.250000 1.416667
#> 15 fishing direct_indirect model 1.625000 2.500000
#> 20 fishing direct combined -5.062500 1.416667
#> 25 fishing direct_indirect combined -3.625000 1.777778
#> 30 fishing combined expert -5.656250 1.416667
#> 35 fishing combined model 1.625000 2.500000
#> 40 fishing combined combined -4.200000 1.633333
#> 4 nutrient direct expert -1.250000 2.083333
#> 9 nutrient direct_indirect expert -2.140625 2.083333
#> 11 nutrient direct_indirect model 0.000000 2.000000
#> 19 nutrient direct combined -1.250000 2.083333
#> 24 nutrient direct_indirect combined -1.427083 2.055556
#> 29 nutrient combined expert -1.695312 2.083333
#> 31 nutrient combined model 0.000000 2.000000
#> 39 nutrient combined combined -1.356250 2.066667
#> 3 oxygen direct expert -2.468750 2.250000
#> 8 oxygen direct_indirect expert -4.187500 2.250000
#> 14 oxygen direct_indirect model -2.500000 1.500000
#> 18 oxygen direct combined -2.468750 2.250000
#> 23 oxygen direct_indirect combined -3.625000 2.000000
#> 28 oxygen combined expert -3.328125 2.250000
#> 34 oxygen combined model -2.500000 1.500000
#> 38 oxygen combined combined -3.162500 2.100000
#> 2 salinity direct expert -1.812500 1.750000
#> 7 salinity direct_indirect expert -3.734375 1.750000
#> 13 salinity direct_indirect model 1.625000 2.250000
#> 17 salinity direct combined -1.812500 1.750000
#> 22 salinity direct_indirect combined -1.947917 1.916667
#> 27 salinity combined expert -2.773438 1.750000
#> 33 salinity combined model 1.625000 2.250000
#> 37 salinity combined combined -1.893750 1.850000
#> 1 temperature direct expert -4.281250 1.416667
#> 6 temperature direct_indirect expert -6.750000 1.416667
#> 12 temperature direct_indirect model -3.750000 1.500000
#> 16 temperature direct combined -4.281250 1.416667
#> 21 temperature direct_indirect combined -5.750000 1.444444
#> 26 temperature combined expert -5.515625 1.416667
#> 32 temperature combined model -3.750000 1.500000
#> 36 temperature combined combined -5.162500 1.433333
aggregated_risk$multi_pressure_risk
#> indicator type pathway risk uncertainty
#> 3 cod direct expert -5.03750 1.616667
#> 7 cod direct_indirect expert -7.20000 1.616667
#> 13 cod direct combined -5.03750 1.616667
#> 17 cod direct_indirect combined -7.20000 1.616667
#> 23 cod combined expert -6.11875 1.616667
#> 29 cod combined combined -6.11875 1.616667
#> 10 eastern_baltic_cod direct_indirect model -2.90000 2.000000
#> 20 eastern_baltic_cod direct_indirect combined -2.90000 2.000000
#> 26 eastern_baltic_cod combined model -2.90000 2.000000
#> 32 eastern_baltic_cod combined combined -2.90000 2.000000
#> 2 herring direct expert -3.26250 1.616667
#> 6 herring direct_indirect expert -4.50000 1.616667
#> 12 herring direct combined -3.26250 1.616667
#> 16 herring direct_indirect combined -4.50000 1.616667
#> 22 herring combined expert -3.88125 1.616667
#> 28 herring combined combined -3.88125 1.616667
#> 1 phytoplankton direct expert -1.65000 1.750000
#> 5 phytoplankton direct_indirect expert -2.25000 1.750000
#> 11 phytoplankton direct combined -1.65000 1.750000
#> 15 phytoplankton direct_indirect combined -2.25000 1.750000
#> 21 phytoplankton combined expert -1.95000 1.750000
#> 27 phytoplankton combined combined -1.95000 1.750000
#> 4 seabirds direct expert -1.95000 2.150000
#> 8 seabirds direct_indirect expert -4.50000 2.150000
#> 14 seabirds direct combined -1.95000 2.150000
#> 18 seabirds direct_indirect combined -4.50000 2.150000
#> 24 seabirds combined expert -3.22500 2.150000
#> 30 seabirds combined combined -3.22500 2.150000
#> 9 zooplankton_mean_size direct_indirect model 1.70000 1.900000
#> 19 zooplankton_mean_size direct_indirect combined 1.70000 1.900000
#> 25 zooplankton_mean_size combined model 1.70000 1.900000
#> 31 zooplankton_mean_size combined combined 1.70000 1.900000The aggregated risk scores are in three lists:
One with all risks aggregated per pressure,
one aggregated per indicator and
one with the ecosystem risk, which is an aggregation of all multi pressure risk scores.
In all lists the scores are first aggregated per type and pathway, then per type regardless of the pathway, then per pathway regardless of the type and as last regardless of the type and pathway.
To get an easier overview of the results and help with the
interpretation ecorisk provides two plotting functions
plot_radar() and plot_heatmap().
The first one creates for each indicator a radar plot with the risk scores per pressure and type. In the centre it shows the aggregated multi-pressure risk, we have to select which we want to use. This plot helps to identify per indicator the most influencing pressures and compare results from different types. If uncertainty has been assessed this will be displayed as a ring around the radar plot. In this example we will the use the aggregated score of direct and indirect effects, regardless of the pathway. Theses are assumed to better reflect reality compared to direct effects only.
p_radar <- plot_radar(
risk_scores = risks,
aggregated_scores = aggregated_risk,
type = "direct_indirect",
pathway = "combined"
)
p_radar[[1]]
All of the indicators have a negative multi-pressure score. The indicators assessed with the expert scoring pathway show a higher risk due to the combined direct and indirect effects compared to direct effects only. The uncertainty is generally lower in the modelling pathway. Comparing the modelling and expert pathway for cod it is noticeable that both have a similar multi-pressure score but the individual risk scores are quiet different: The experts assessed fishing as the most influencing pressure, whereas in the modelling pathway salinity is considered as the pressure with the highest impact. To directly compare modelling and expert pathway for cod we can correlate them in a plot:
temp <- risks[c(26:30, 45:49), c(1, 2, 7)]
temp <- temp |>
tidyr::pivot_wider(names_from = indicator, values_from = risk)
ggplot2::ggplot(dat = temp,
ggplot2::aes(x = cod, y = eastern_baltic_cod, colour = pressure)) +
ggplot2::geom_point() +
ggplot2::geom_abline(slope = 1, intercept = 0) +
ggplot2::xlim(-10, 10) +
ggplot2::ylim(-10,10) +
ggplot2::labs(x = "Expert-based pathway", y = "Modelling-based pathway") +
ggplot2::theme_minimal()
#> Warning: Removed 1 row containing missing values or values outside the scale range
#> (`geom_point()`).
We can see that the risk scores for nutrients, oxygen and temperature
are quiet similar for both pathways. But the values for salinity
indicate no risk in the modelling pathway. This might be due to a
salinity time series that does not catch the ongoing dynamics, and thus
resulting in a non significant relationship between pressure and
indicator. The scores for fishing have even opposing directions, this
could be due to a different understanding of fishing and the future
developments: In the modelling pathway it has been shown that fishing is
decreasing, which will be positive for the indicators, thus in the
future it will have a positive effect. But the expert probably assumed
that fishing will always have negative effects, without considering the
positive development of the decreasing fishing pressure. This is a
linguistic uncertainty, which should have been discussed in the planning
and scoping phase of the assessment, to ensure that all have a common
understanding. Nevertheless we should reiterate with our experts as well
as check if the model_sensitivity() and
model_exposure() function have correctly determined the
effect direction.
The function plot_heatmap() creates for each assessment
type a heatmap of all pressure indicator combinations, optionally with
the associated uncertainty. The aggregated multi-pressure and indicator
scores are shown at the bottom and to the left of the heatmap as well as
the system risk score at the bottom right. For the aggregated scores we
have to choose which one we want to use as we already did for the
plot_radar() function. This function gives an complete
overview of the system dynamics allowing to easily compare ecosystems
and determine by which indicators and pressures ecosystem risk is
driven.
p_heat <- plot_heatmap(
risk_scores = risks,
aggregated_scores = aggregated_risk,
uncertainty = TRUE
)
p_heat[[1]]
The first heatmap includes only direct effects, thus this heatmap is a bit smaller as we did not assess for all indicators direct effects only. The multi pressure and indicator scores are the aggregated direct scores for all assessed pathways. The grey frame around the heatmap tiles show the uncertainty associated with the score. We can see with this heatmap that cod is the indicator most at risk, this risk is due to high effects of fishing and temperature. The least at risk indicators are phytoplankton and seabirds. Both are not affected by several of the pressures, but still seabirds are at a medium to high risk due to fishing. The second heatmap shows the direct and indirect effects including also the indicator which were assessed with the modelling pathway. Again the cod indicator is most at risk, followed by the modelled cod indicator, herring and seabirds. The pressures with the highest negative impact are temperature and fishing. Zooplankton is an example for an indicator which will likely thrive under the pressures. It is still worthwhile to include such indicators in a risk assessment as these positive changes in one indicator can have negative effects for the entire system, thus every change can bear a risk for the system. Overall the system is a bit more at risk considering the combination of direct and indirect effects compared to direct effects only.
What can we do now with the results of our risk assessment? Here are some examples:
If you have issues with the package or questions please send an e-mail to: helene.gutte@uni-hamburg.de
These binaries (installable software) and packages are in development.
They may not be fully stable and should be used with caution. We make no claims about them.