Mapping Species And Their Habitat

 

Biodiversity is defined as richness of species of some geographic area.  loss of species is the most recognizable form of biodiversity decline. The extinction of any species can be categories in four ways – 

 

Freshwater ecosystems are home to more than 1,00,000 known species of plants and animals, and are now one of the most endangered habitats in the world as a result of human development, pollution, and climate change.

 

 

 

 

Many plant and animal species are under a threat of extinction. There are several reasons behind this. Some of them are as follows:

 

 

 

Plants and animals (including humans) depend on each other as well as microorganisms, land, water, and climate to keep our entire system alive and well. In the words of the World Wildlife Fund, "When you remove one element from a fragile ecosystem, it has far-reaching and long-lasting effects on biodiversity."

 

If a species has a unique function in its ecosystem, its loss can prompt cascading effects through the food chain, impacting other species and the ecosystem itself.

 

An example of extinction of wolves in Yellowstone Park, is very common. They were hunted to extinction by 1930. Without them number of elk and deer increased and their grazing decimated streamside willows and aspens, which had provided habitat for songbirds. This left the stream banks susceptible to erosion, and a decline in songbirds allowed mosquitoes and other insects the birds would have eaten to multiply. 

 

 

Geospatial technology include various aspects involved in monitoring, analysing, assessment, comparison and decision making that help in making policies to protect plant and animal species in an ecosystem.

 

 

With an advancement in GIS and its related software's it is now easier to map the microbiological diversity that has the potential for remarkable scientific, social, and economic impact. When information is displayed in map forms it allows investigators to monitor spatial and temporal patterns that arise from the distribution and activity of microorganisms and to visualize these trends at greater spatial scales.

 

 

Recent development in photogrammetry and remote sensing enable measurements of topography and the three-dimensional structure of vegetation at high spatial resolution and throughout large areas. Typical applications of these data to conservation problems include the use of three-dimensional vegetation structure data to understand forest structure and the habitat requirements of wildlife species. Topographic data is used to map suitable habitat for species. DEM is used to create variables for classifying the suitability of areas for plant reintroduction.

 

 

Remote sensing of animals by satellite provides a new method to test a number of bio geographic hypotheses related to migration and to identify a number of environmental correlates associated with the distributions of species. Now a day's high resolution satellites are more effective in this approach. UAV are also used in case of small areas with ultra high resolution results. Satellite tracking of white-napped cranes and red-crowned cranes in east Asia over the years provided significant and previously unknown insight into migration routes and stopover sites.

 

 

GIS technology is a tool that helps conservationists acquire, manage, analyze, and visualize spatial and thematic oceanic data through map generation. It is used around the world to map marine habitats; water quality; species distribution, population, and behaviour; pollution; fishing grounds; and other factors that impact marine life. Hard-bottom and reef regions of the marine ecosystem provide essential habitat for a wide variety of marine species, including sea turtles, lobsters, and an abundant array of fish and invertebrates.

 

 

GIS as tools has assumed an immense significance in habitat suitability assessment and are widely used in conservation biology and wildlife management. The variables ‘Habitat Factor’ that affect the habitat suitability for individual species of animals vary from species to species. Some of these variables are (i) Distance from human settlements (ii) Distance from water body  (iii) Slope and elevation (iv) Prey Availability (v) Vegetation type (vi) Forest density (vii) Regional Ecosystem(viii) Soil etc. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is used for density classification of forest cover. Slope maps are also used which are derived from DEM.

 

 

loss of species is the most recognizable form of biodiversity decline. This is due to climate change, loss of habitat, pollution, etc. Geospatial technology with its various aspects are implemented in mapping all kind of species including micro organisms, plants, animals and marine life. GIS, Remote sensing and photogrammetry are playing key role in monitoring, analysis and decision making for endangered species.