Chapter Title:
Conservation, Monitoring and Management of Biodiversity Using Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System
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Synopsis
Abstract: Biological diversity is the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes. Throughout the world, biodiversity is facing unparalleled threats caused by our untenable use of earth’s natural resources. Progressively, we are realizing the finite capacity of our globe to absorb the consequences of our activities: ongoing degradation and loss of natural ecosystems and dependent species; overuse of resources; pollution of water, land and the atmosphere; and modifications in atmospheric composition leading to climate change with all its consequences. A unique approach is required, which will help to overcome all these issues without challenging the economic development. Assessment of the biodiversity becomes very difficult due to complexity in biodiversity nature. The geospatial technology (RS and GIS) is an efficient and cost-effective means of data collection for conservation, management and planning of biodiversity and other resources. Recently, GIS and Remote Sensing Technology plays a vital role in biodiversity conservation as well as the wildlife analysis. Spatial ecology is the study of patterns and processes occurring in a geographic space or landscape that influence characteristics of plant and animal populations such as densities, distributions and movements. Uses of GIS and RS for mapping the endangered species can be conducted to help understand the environmental factors (including land, soil, climatic condition) responsible for the extinction of species. GIS and RS technologies help gain insights into the features of the land under consideration. We would use satellite images and various geospatial layers to prepare land use, land cover maps and habitat suitability maps for each species and their habitat which helps in the conservation of wild flora and fauna. The current paper focuses on the role of remote sensing and GIS tools in the conservation, monitoring and management of the biological diversity. Using remote sensing data for biodiversity mapping, monitoring and modeling requires a trade-off between data availability, spatial resolution and coverage, spectral resolution, timing of image acquisition, practicality of ground validation combined with overall cost of imagery and analytical effort. Like remote sensing, the number of ecological publications using GIS has grown very rapidly, and it has been used to predict species distributions and risks to biodiversity.
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