Space-eye-view could help stop global wildlife decline

Satellite view of Western Australia. Image (c) NASA.

Conservation scientists need to collaborate with space agencies, such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA), to identify measures which help track biodiversity declines around the world.

Scientists, led by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), UK, and University of Twente, Netherlands, are calling for urgent cooperation, according to a comment published in Nature.

In a move that previously proved successful in helping to monitor climate change on a global scale, scientists believe that space technology could help track biodiversity across the planet. Satellite images can quickly reveal where and how to reverse the loss of biological diversity. Vegetation productivity or leaf cover can, for example, be measured across continents from space while providing information about biodiversity levels on the ground.

Publicly-funded space agencies, including NASA and ESA, already collect and regularly provide open-access to satellite data. However, a lack of agreement between conservation biologists and space agencies on a definitive set of variables to track, as well as how to translate such information into useful data for conservation, has meant that so far this game-changing resource has remained untapped.

Dr Nathalie Pettorelli, co-author of the comment and researcher at ZSL, said: “With global wildlife populations halved in just 40 years, there is a real urgency to identify variables that both capture key aspects of biodiversity change and can be monitored consistently and globally. Satellites can help deliver such information, and in 10 years’ time, global biodiversity monitoring from space could be a reality, but only if ecologists and space agencies agree on a priority list of satellite-based data that is essential for tracking changes in biodiversity.

“So far biodiversity monitoring has been mostly species-based, and this means that some of the changes happening on a global-scale may be missed. Being able to look at the planet as a whole could literally provide a new perspective on how we conserve biological diversity.”

Dr Andrew Skidmore, lead author and Professor at ITC University Twente, said: “Satellite imagery from major space agencies is becoming more freely available, and images are of much higher resolution than 10 years ago. Our ambition to monitor biodiversity from space is now being matched by actual technical capacity. As conservation and remote sensing communities join forces, biodiversity can be monitored on a global scale. High tech satellites can assist in conserving biological diversity by tracking the impact of environmental policies worldwide.”

The Latest on: Global wildlife decline

[google_news title=”” keyword=”Global wildlife decline” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]

via Google News

The Latest on: Global wildlife decline

Extremely rare silvery gibbon born at Isle of Man wildlife park
on September 27, 2023 at 1:30 pm
An extremely rare silvery gibbon has been born in a “very significant” moment for a wildlife park on the Isle of Man. The first pictures of the newest arrival to Curraghs Wildlife Park show one of the ...
New report shows Scottish wildlife is on the decline
on September 27, 2023 at 11:03 am
The report warned that certain groups of animals monitored are at risk of becoming nationally extinct in Scotland.
UK wildlife continues long-term decline in diversity and abundance
on September 27, 2023 at 11:02 am
The study estimated that the abundance of the species studied — the number of individuals living in the wild — had declined on average by 19 per cent since 1970. But flora and fauna had already been ...
UK wildlife suffering 'downward pattern of decline' in biodiversity, review says, as it identifies familiar species in danger
on September 27, 2023 at 11:00 am
The UK now has less than half of the plant, animal and fungal life it once had remaining, as a result of human activity, with the losses blamed on farming, climate change, unsustainable fishing and ...
UTA research: Wildlife loss five times slower in protected areas
on September 27, 2023 at 10:18 am
On average, vertebrate populations declined 0.4% per year inside protected areas—nearly five times slower than vertebrate populations outside of protected areas (1.8% per year). Some vertebrates did ...
PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ harming wildlife the world over: Study
on September 27, 2023 at 9:50 am
While PFAS impacts on human health are well known, scientists are also finding severe impacts on wildlife, including hawksbill turtles, American alligators, Arctic kittiwakes, hooded seals, striped ...
State of Nature report 2023: UK wildlife continues to decline
on September 25, 2023 at 5:00 pm
The 2023 State of Nature report shows that the abundance of species studied in the UK has declined by 19 per cent on average since records began in 1970. But while the most important natural habitats ...
How Are Heat Waves Affecting Wildlife?
on September 22, 2023 at 12:27 am
The recent uptick in heat waves has sent many different species of wildlife scurrying for new habitat where they can keep cool.
Invasive species and climate change: A perfect match? These animals thrive amid global warming.
on September 12, 2023 at 3:01 am
Warming temperatures are helping invasive animal species thrive and expand their habitats in the United States, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. And in turn, more invasive species in more ...
Global wildlife losses are a lot worse than we once thought
on September 3, 2023 at 1:32 pm
In 2022, the World Wildlife Foundation put out its groundbreaking ... species and found that there had been a staggering 69% decline in global animal life between 1970 and 2018. “ ...