Valery E. Forbes

Valery E. Forbes is an American ecologist and professor specializing in environmental toxicology. Since the start of the 2022-2023 academic season, she has been the Dean of the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science at Florida Atlantic University. Her research expertise is in ecotoxicology, where she primarily studies effects of environmental stresses on organisms at different levels of biological organization.

Education

As an undergraduate student, Forbes received B. A.'s in Biology and Geology at Binghamton University in 1983. She later attended Stony Brook University, completing her M.S. in Marine Environmental Sciences in 1984, and her PhD in Coastal Oceanography in 1988.

Scientific contributions

Research in the Forbes lab is aimed at improving environmental management through increased understanding of how risks, such as exposure to toxins and temperature change, impact ecosystems. With over 350 peer reviewed publications and a google scholar citation index of 8658, Forbes is an internationally recognized expert in assessing risks to complex ecosystems through population modeling. Her expertise led to her participation of an advisory council formed to advise SETAC-Europe about using mechanistic effect models for ecological risk assessment of chemicals.

Awards and honors

• Helmholtz International Fellow
• Fellow of the University of Minnesota Institute of the Environment
• Member of the Board of Directors, Minnesota Freshwater Society
• Fulbright Scholar, Odense University, DK

Professional activities

• Editorial Board, PeerJ, 2017–Present
• Editorial Board, Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, 2018–Present
• Editorial Board, Human and Ecological Risk Assessment, 2005–Present
• Editorial Board, Marine Environmental Research, 2000–Present
• Invited Member of the Spinoza Prize Selection Committee, Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, 2013–16
• Editorial Board, Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 2004-13
• Director, Centre for Integrated Population Ecology, 2005–09
• Danish Natural Sciences Research Council Member, 2001–07

External links

• University of Minnesota lab page
• European Food Safety Authority Conference Discussion 24 September 2018
• Valery E. Forbes publications indexed by Google Scholar

Representative publications

• Forbes, Valery E.; Galic, Nika; Schmolke, Amelie; Vavra, Janna; Pastorok, Rob; Thorbek, Pernille (2016). "Assessing the risks of pesticides to threatened and endangered species using population modeling: A critical review and recommendations for future work: Population modeling of pesticide risks to listed species". Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. 35 (8): 1904–1913. doi:10.1002/etc.3440. PMID 27037541.
• Forbes, Valery; Hall, Tilghman; Suter, Glenn W. (2016-04-18). "The Challenge: Bias is creeping into the science behind risk assessments and undermining its use and credibility". Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. 35 (5): 1068. doi:10.1002/etc.3354. ISSN 0730-7268. PMID 27089439.
• Forbes, Valery E.; Galic, Nika (2016). "Next-generation ecological risk assessment: Predicting risk from molecular initiation to ecosystem service delivery". Environment International. 91: 215–219. Bibcode:2016EnInt..91..215F. doi:10.1016/j.envint.2016.03.002. ISSN 0160-4120. PMID 26985654.
• DeLong, John P.; Forbes, Valery E.; Galic, Nika; Gibert, Jean P.; Laport, Robert G.; Phillips, Joseph S.; Vavra, Janna M. (2016). "How fast is fast? Eco-evolutionary dynamics and rates of change in populations and phenotypes". Ecology and Evolution. 6 (2): 573–581. Bibcode:2016EcoEv...6..573D. doi:10.1002/ece3.1899. ISSN 2045-7758. PMC 4729258. PMID 26843940.
• Hommen, Udo; Forbes, Valery; Grimm, Volker; Preuss, Thomas G; Thorbek, Pernille; Ducrot, Virginie (2015-10-29). "How to use mechanistic effect models in environmental risk assessment of pesticides: Case studies and recommendations from the SETAC workshop MODELINK" (PDF). Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management. 12 (1): 21–31. doi:10.1002/ieam.1704. ISSN 1551-3777. PMID 26437629.
• Forbes, VE; Brain, R; Edwards, D; Galic, N; Hall, T; Honegger, J; Meyer, C; Moore, DRJ; Nacci, D (2015-03-21). "Assessing pesticide risks to threatened and endangered species using population models: Findings and recommendations from a CropLife America Science Forum". Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management. 11 (3): 348–354. Bibcode:2015IEAM...11..348F. doi:10.1002/ieam.1628. ISSN 1551-3777. PMID 25655086. S2CID 37342821.
• Ramskov, Tina; Forbes, Valery E.; Gilliland, Douglas; Selck, Henriette (2015). "Accumulation and effects of sediment-associated silver nanoparticles to sediment-dwelling invertebrates". Aquatic Toxicology. 166: 96–105. Bibcode:2015AqTox.166...96R. doi:10.1016/j.aquatox.2015.07.002. ISSN 0166-445X. PMID 26256765.
• Palmqvist, Annemette; Baker, Leanne; Forbes, Valery E; Gergs, André; von der Kammer, Frank; Luoma, Samuel; Lützhøft, Hans Christian Holten; Salinas, Edward; Sorensen, Mary (2015-03-26). "Nanomaterial environmental risk assessment". Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management. 11 (2): 333–335. Bibcode:2015IEAM...11..333P. doi:10.1002/ieam.1625. ISSN 1551-3777. PMID 25820312. S2CID 34129955.
• Forbes, Valery E. (2015-01-22). "The Real Trouble with Risk Assessment". BioScience. 65 (3): 227. doi:10.1093/biosci/biu228. ISSN 1525-3244.