10: Estimating landscape scale risks of insecticide use to non-migratory monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) populations in the North Central U.S. Will the results be useful?

The USEPA, USFWS, and NMFS, among other Federal agencies, have procedures in place to collect and review research published in the peer-reviewed literature that may help inform risk-based regulatory decisions.  Depending on the hypotheses and approaches used in a published study, results may provide insights on methodologies for estimating risks and/or provide exposure or effects information that could be used qualitatively or quantitatively in a specific risk assessment.   The extent to which a study’s hypotheses align with the risk hypotheses and conceptual models in a risk assessment’s problem formulation, it is more likely results can be used quantitatively, especially if the underlying data is publically available.  A case study integrating toxicology, exposure, and movement ecology research to help inform the conservation risks and benefits of establishing monarch breeding habitat in close proximity to corn and soybean fields treated with insecticides will be summarized.  The extent to which results of the research may be of regulatory utility will be explored.  As noted in a recent NAS report, continued advancement of educational materials and courses that introduce graduate students and post docs to environmental laws and regulations, and associated risk assessment methodologies, can help support generation of knowledge responsive to specific risk analyses and encourage innovation in regulatory science.