Procedia Environmental Sciences 13 (2012) 1882 – 1892 1878-0296 © 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of School of Environment, Beijing Normal University. doi:10.1016/j.proenv.2012.01.182 Available online at www.sciencedirect.com The 18th Biennial Conference of International Society for Ecological Modelling Multi-dimension network consideration for eco-risk evaluation: From population to ecosystem S.Q. Chen, B. Chen * , J. Dai, M.R. Su State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China Abstract Risk assessment has been defined and designed in a wide array of disciplines to avoid or diminish potential detrimental impacts in the face of certain hazards. However, embedding ecology conception to environmental risk evaluation is quite a recent interest; in fact, it did not draw much attention for modelers and decision makers until the late 1980s. What is proposed in this paper is an information-based network environ model for ERA that is capable of multiple risk factor evaluations at different scales from population to ecosystem. Risk analysis and terminology, and modern perspectives of ERA are reviewed and discussed prior to the introduction of the system-oriented model, while quantum mechanics is made use of as rational metaphors where needed. Based on these insights, the conceptual framework of a holistic eco-risk model is developed based on the combination of network environ theory and systemic information theory, while the usefulness of the novel framework in coping with uncertainty is also addressed. We conclude that the way to handle an eco-risk scenario of a disturbed ecosystem should be updated through multi-dimension network consideration when searching into the whole status and dynamics of the ecosystem. © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Keywords: Ecological risk assessment; Network environ theory; Ecosystem management; Uncertainty * Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 10 58807368; fax: +86 10 58807368. E-mail address: Chenb@bnu.edu.cn. © 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of School of Environment, Beijing Normal University. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.