ANSWER 1

Written response:

Biological sensitivity scoring and exposure assessments lets people who depend on, or care about, the species know if the species is likely to be effected into the future and how big those effects could be. Exposure is whether the species will actually interact with something that could effect it. If there is no interaction there is no chance of an effect (and so nothing to worry about).

If there is an effect then the biological sensitivity scoring can help understand how big that effect might be – small, medium or large. Biological sensitivity scoring considers all the ways the species can cope with change and the ways in which it can be effected – via mortality, reproduction, growth (and how fast it can mature and have offspring of its own), the amount it moves, how dependent on specific habitat or food it is. Thinking about all this means it is possible to estimate whether the species will be relatively robust to change or whether it will struggle to cope. The way a species lives shapes how it can respond to any changes in its environment – if it has lots of offspring, grows fast and moves around a lot then effects will likely be small, as there are enough chances that some will survive bad years, reproduction can happen more quickly (as they grow fast) and they can potentially move to places that are less effected. In contrast species that have few babies, grow slowly (so taking longer to get to reproduce) and don’t move much have fewer options for avoiding the pressure and take longer to recover (so impacts can be bigger).

Sardines are an example of a robust species, while the giant potato cod is a species that is likely to be sensitive to change.

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