NASA Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems

Funded Research

Informing UN-Assisted National Biodiversity Strategy Action Plans with Earth Observations: Application to Forest Integrity and Connectivity

Hansen, Andrew (Andy): Montana State University (Project Lead)

Project Funding: 2017 - 2021

NRA: 2016 NASA: Ecological Forecasting

Funded by NASA

Abstract:
Human activities are increasingly fragmenting intact habitats and reducing connectivity among protected areas. Concern about loss of biodiversity led to an international agreement in 2010 to meet 20 specific biodiversity targets. Among these, Target 5 deals with fragmentation, Target 11 with connectivity, and Target 17 with implementation of National Biodiversity Strategy Action Plans (NBSAPs). The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) is working with 135 countries to implement NBSAPs. These plans require data on the status and trends in biodiversity and ecological condition that are globally consistent and adequately fine in resolution for national application. Accordingly, the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON) is developing Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBV) and UNDP has initiated a geospatial portal to serve NSBAP implementation. We propose to develop a remote-sensing based decision support system (DSS) to enhance the UNDP geospatial portal, produce ecological vital signs in support of GEO BON, and provide tools to enable decision making on forest fragmentation and connectivity by CBD countries. Our goal is to develop credible and consistent global satellite-based products and analysis methods to inform connectivity implementation of forest integrity in NBSAPs. Objectives are: 1. Develop satellite-based products that are global in extent and regionally relevant for mapping forest condition, human pressure, and forest integrity, and assessing habitat fragmentation and connectivity. 2. Use the products to inform a connectivity DSS that includes tools for regional data summary, evaluation of condition and trend, and communication to stakeholders. 3. Incorporate the DSS into the UNDP geospatial portal and demonstrate it use by countries implementing NBSAPs for which connectivity is a high priority. The DSS will be developed as interconnected modules: 1) vital sign integration; 2) fragmentation and connectivity analyses; 3) species impacts analyses; 4) evaluation of trends in vital sign condition; and 5) spatial summary. The DSS will focus on one “high-level” vital sign, forest integrity, and be designed to incorporate GEO BON EBV as they become available. Advances in remote sensing now allow moderate resolution mapping of forest condition and human pressure globally. We will integrate forest canopy density, canopy height and time since disturbance (derived from Landsat analyses and GLAS data) with an updated human footprint (derived from DMSP-OLS, Modis, MERIS, SRTM, and ancillary data) into a measure of forest integrity. The extent of fragmentation of forests of high integrity, connectivity among protected areas, and change from 2000-2017 will be quantified. The contribution of forest integrity to explaining species extinction risk will be assessed with indepent data on vertebrate population status. Trends in the condition of vital signs will be quantified based on user-defined thresholds to reveal if vital signs are deteriorating, stable, or improving. Tools will be developed to allow users to extract and summarize all of the DSS products for any spatial area of interest. The UN Pulse Lab Kampala will host the DSS, incorporating it into their geospatial portal. We will prototype the DSS in 8 countries for which connectivity is a stated priority and implement the DSS in an additional 26 countries. UNDP will provide trainings and other forms of communication to reach up to 135 countries on the use of the data, and will monitor its use, gather best practices and share these widely, through a collaborative wiki portal. The project will substantially enhance the capacity of the UN Pulse Lab Kampala, and will enable collaborating countries to monitor progress on meeting their NBSAP forest fragmentation and connectivity targets.

Publications:

Anderegg, W. R. L., Trugman, A. T., Badgley, G., Anderson, C. M., Bartuska, A., Ciais, P., Cullenward, D., Field, C. B., Freeman, J., Goetz, S. J., Hicke, J. A., Huntzinger, D., Jackson, R. B., Nickerson, J., Pacala, S., Randerson, J. T. 2020. Climate-driven risks to the climate mitigation potential of forests. Science. 368(6497). DOI: 10.1126/science.aaz7005

Brancalion, P. H. S., Niamir, A., Broadbent, E., Crouzeilles, R., Barros, F. S. M., Almeyda Zambrano, A. M., Baccini, A., Aronson, J., Goetz, S., Reid, J. L., Strassburg, B. B. N., Wilson, S., Chazdon, R. L. 2019. Global restoration opportunities in tropical rainforest landscapes. Science Advances. 5(7). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aav3223

Hansen, A. J., Burns, P., Ervin, J., Goetz, S. J., Hansen, M., Venter, O., Watson, J. E. M., Jantz, P. A., Virnig, A. L. S., Barnett, K., Pillay, R., Atkinson, S., Supples, C., Rodriguez-Buritica, S., Armenteras, D. 2020. A policy-driven framework for conserving the best of Earth's remaining moist tropical forests. Nature Ecology & Evolution. 4(10), 1377-1384. DOI: 10.1038/s41559-020-1274-7

Hansen, A. J., Noble, B. P., Veneros, J., East, A., Goetz, S. J., Supples, C., Watson, J. E. M., Jantz, P. A., Pillay, R., Jetz, W., Ferrier, S., Grantham, H. S., Evans, T. D., Ervin, J., Venter, O., Virnig, A. L. S. 2021. Toward monitoring forest ecosystem integrity within the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. Conservation Letters. 14(4). DOI: 10.1111/conl.12822

Hansen, A., Barnett, K., Jantz, P., Phillips, L., Goetz, S. J., Hansen, M., Venter, O., Watson, J. E. M., Burns, P., Atkinson, S., Rodriguez-Buritica, S., Ervin, J., Virnig, A., Supples, C., De Camargo, R. 2019. Global humid tropics forest structural condition and forest structural integrity maps. Scientific Data. 6(1). DOI: 10.1038/s41597-019-0214-3

Kleinschroth, F., Laporte, N., Laurance, W. F., Goetz, S. J., Ghazoul, J. 2019. Road expansion and persistence in forests of the Congo Basin. Nature Sustainability. 2(7), 628-634. DOI: 10.1038/s41893-019-0310-6

Mason, N., Ward, M., Watson, J. E. M., Venter, O., Runting, R. K. 2020. Global opportunities and challenges for transboundary conservation. Nature Ecology & Evolution. 4(5), 694-701. DOI: 10.1038/s41559-020-1160-3

Moomaw, W. R., Law, B. E., Goetz, S. J. 2020. Focus on the role of forests and soils in meeting climate change mitigation goals: summary. Environmental Research Letters. 15(4), 045009. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ab6b38

O'Bryan, C. J., Garnett, S. T., Fa, J. E., Leiper, I., Rehbein, J., Fernandez-Llamazares, A., Jackson, M. V., Jonas, H. D., Brondizio, E. S., Burgess, N. D., Robinson, C. J., Zander, K. K., Venter, O., Watson, J. E. The importance of Indigenous Peoples' lands for the conservation of terrestrial vertebrates DOI: 10.1101/2019.12.11.873695

Pillay, R., Venter, M., Aragon-Osejo, J., Gonzalez-del-Pliego, P., Hansen, A. J., Watson, J. E., Venter, O. 2021. Tropical forests are home to over half of the world's vertebrate species. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. 20(1), 10-15. DOI: 10.1002/fee.2420

Pillay, R., Watson, J. E. M., Hansen, A. J., Jantz, P. A., Aragon-Osejo, J., Armenteras, D., Atkinson, S. C., Burns, P., Ervin, J., Goetz, S. J., Gonzalez-del-Pliego, P., Robinson, N. P., Supples, C., Virnig, A. L. S., Williams, B. A., Venter, O. 2022. Humid tropical vertebrates are at lower risk of extinction and population decline in forests with higher structural integrity. Nature Ecology & Evolution. 6(12), 1840-1849. DOI: 10.1038/s41559-022-01915-8

Pillay, R., Watson, J., Hansen, A., Aragon-Osejo, J., Armenteras, D., Atkinson, S., Burns, P., Ervin, J., Goetz, S., Gonzalez-del-Pliego, P., Jantz, P., Supples, C., Virnig, A. L., Williams, B., Venter, O. Forest quality mitigates extinction risk in humid tropical vertebrates DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-199037/v1

Schmitz, O. J., Wilmers, C. C., Leroux, S. J., Doughty, C. E., Atwood, T. B., Galetti, M., Davies, A. B., Goetz, S. J. 2018. Animals and the zoogeochemistry of the carbon cycle. Science. 362(6419). DOI: 10.1126/science.aar3213

Tang, H., Armston, J., Hancock, S., Marselis, S., Goetz, S., Dubayah, R. 2019. Characterizing global forest canopy cover distribution using spaceborne lidar. Remote Sensing of Environment. 231, 111262. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2019.111262

Tang, H., Song, X., Zhao, F. A., Strahler, A. H., Schaaf, C. L., Goetz, S., Huang, C., Hansen, M. C., Dubayah, R. 2019. Definition and measurement of tree cover: A comparative analysis of field-, lidar- and landsat-based tree cover estimations in the Sierra national forests, USA. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. 268, 258-268. DOI: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2019.01.024

Ward, M., Saura, S., Williams, B., Ramirez-Delgado, J. P., Arafeh-Dalmau, N., Allan, J. R., Venter, O., Dubois, G., Watson, J. E. M. 2020. Just ten percent of the global terrestrial protected area network is structurally connected via intact land. Nature Communications. 11(1). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-18457-x

Williams, B. A., Venter, O., Allan, J. R., Atkinson, S. C., Rehbein, J. A., Ward, M., Di Marco, M., Grantham, H. S., Ervin, J., Goetz, S. J., Hansen, A. J., Jantz, P., Pillay, R., Rodriguez-Buritica, S., Supples, C., Virnig, A. L., Watson, J. E. 2020. Change in Terrestrial Human Footprint Drives Continued Loss of Intact Ecosystems. One Earth. 3(3), 371-382. DOI: 10.1016/j.oneear.2020.08.009

More details may be found in the following project profile(s):

NASA Biological Diversity & Ecological Conservation (BDEC) Project Profile

Quick People Search