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The physical characteristics of a likely potential receiving environment includes such factors as: geography and climate, soil and the management status of the area.
The physical or “abiotic” characteristics of the likely potential receiving environment may have a great impact on the ability of an LMO to survive and persist. - Geography and climate – Geography encompasses characteristics such as latitude, which will influence day-length, and altitude. Climate encompasses temperature, precipitation, humidity, wind and other meteorological measures over long periods of time. For the purposes of environmental risk assessment, geography and climate are among the most important factors impacting the ability of an LMO to survive and persist. For LM plants, temperature and precipitation are likely to be key determinants. Seasonality (variations in climate on an annual cycle) can also be an important consideration in the potential survival and persistence of an LMO.
- Soil – The type and quality of soil can greatly influence the ability of an LM plant to survive or persist without land management. The type and quality of a soil are heavily influenced by the organisms living in its proximity, but abiotic factors such as climate, geography and topography will also all play a role in determining its characteristics (e.g. mineral content, moisture level, texture etc.).
- Management status – The management status of an environment is a measure of how much human intervention takes place in order to maintain a particular condition. A separate but related concept is “disturbance” which can be considered the amount of human activity that affects the environment but without the intention of maintaining a particular condition. Management and disturbance may greatly influence the ability of an LMO to survive and persist in the environment. Likely potential receiving environments can range from highly managed to unmanaged and from highly disturbed to undisturbed.
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