Conservationnnists and space agencies must collaborate to better monitor biodiversity

A recently published Nature article focused on the importance of identifying essential biodiversity variables and the need to produce a strategy to allow them to be tracked globally from space.

Biodiversity is not evenly distributed, but varies greatly around the globe as well as within regions. Among other factors, the diversity of all living things depends on temperature, precipitation, altitude, soils, geography and the presence of other species.

Researchers have tried to define a set of biodiversity variables that can be monitored globally from space. However, insufficient access to data, uncertainties in the continuity of observations and limitations of satellite imagery means there is still some way to go.

Proposed variables for satellite monitoring of progress towards the Aichi Biodiversity Targets.

Species populations
• Species occurrence
Species traits
• Plant traits (such as specific leaf area and leaf nitrogen content)
Ecosystem structure
• Ecosystem distribution
• Fragmentation and hetrogeneity
• Land cover
• Vegetation height
Ecosystem function
• Fire occurrence
• Vegetation phenology (variability)
• Primary productivity and leaf area index
• Inundation

more detail on European Space Agency Wensite