Projects
African forest elephants' ecological role
African forest elephants (Loxodonta africana cyclotis) face severe threats from poaching and habitat loss, with estimated population losses between 62-81% since the early 2000’s. Forest elephants are known to transport nutrients across gradients, disperse seeds, and inflict damage to the understory through browsing. It is estimated that changes in vegetation structure from elephant disturbance significantly affect carbon stocks in the Afrotropics, however these findings have not been validated on a large scale. Therefore, the use of remotely-sensed data is essential in determining the changes in ecosystem structure made by forest elephants. This project aims to quantify the role forest elephants play as ecosystem engineers and their impact on habitat heterogeneity using lidar (light detection and ranging).
Collaborators include:
NAU: Andrew Abraham, Patrick Burns, Patrick Jantz, Christopher Doughty, Scott Goetz
WCS: Fiona Maisels, Katharine Abernethy
Gabon ANPN: Loic Makaga
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Funded by: NASA Biodiversity and Ecological Forecasting
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Image credit: Jenna Keany
Forest elephants as Trail Blazers
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Multiple scales of lidar were collected by NASA in Lope National Park, Gabon from 2015 to 2022. Utilizing two airborne lidar datasets in an African forest elephant stronghold, detailed canopy structural information was used in conjunction with elephant trail data to determine how forest structure varies on and off trails. Forest along elephant trails displayed different structural characteristics than forested areas off trails, with lower canopy height, canopy cover, and different vertical distribution of plant density. Less plant area density was found on trails at 1 m in height, while more vegetation was found at 12 m, compared to off trail locations. Trails in forest areas with previous logging history had lower plant area in the top of the canopy. Forest elephants can be considered as “logging light” ecosystem engineers, affecting canopy structure through browsing and movement. Both airborne lidar scales were able to capture elephant impact along trails, with the high-resolution discrete return lidar performing higher than waveform lidar.
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​Image credit: Jenna Keany
Mobile apps for 30x30 Equity
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In December 2022, 188 governments of the world committed to effectively and equitably conserving 30% of the Earth’s land and sea by 2030 by adopting the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Conservationist groups have lauded the ambitious framework, which is widely referred to as 30×30. However, major concerns exist regarding how governments will implement the agreement and how targets will be monitored and verified. Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs), as well as agricultural groups, have voiced concerns that 30×30 will lead to inequity and associated losses of food security and economic opportunities. With 40% of all protected lands inhabited by IPLCs (38 million km2 worldwide), typically having access to limited economic opportunities compared with wealthier regions of the world, the equitable and inclusive achievement of 30×30 is challenging. Solutions are urgently needed to achieve 30×30 while respecting the rights of IPLCs.
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Building on emerging and existing technologies, opportunities now exist to combine remote-sensing products with ground truthing to monitor 30×30 targets. Public and private programmes such as NASA and Planet Labs are investing in satellites to collect data on ecosystem health and biodiversity at a global scale. These products are combined and integrated into key metrics such as Essential Biodiversity Variables, which are used to monitor and forecast global ecological health for 30×30 assessments. However, remote-sensing products require additional ground validation for data quality assurance, which requires on-ground data collection5. There is an untapped opportunity to engage and incentivize IPLCs globally in conservation actions through financial compensation for on-ground data collection. Therefore, we suggest the development of systems that deliver direct payments to IPLCs for ground validation of remote-sensing data via mobile applications to strengthen verification, equity and inclusivity of 30×30.
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​Engaging citizen scientists for inclusive Earth systems monitoring
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NASA’s Earth Science Division has invested in a multitude of data products aimed to monitor everything from global temperature to terrestrial carbon stocks. Many of these products, such as GEDI’s above ground biomass, were released within the last five years and have already been widely used and validated by the scientific community. However, ground truthing data for these products is typically collected in the global north and of limited geographic extent. Specifically, tropical regions of the global south receive limited field campaigns. Our project will engage citizen scientists to collect tree height, Diameter at Breast Height (DBH), and species data that provides on ground validation and supporting biodiversity measures for NASA’s Earth Systems Monitoring GEDI L4a biomass product.
To accomplish this, our project will have three interlinked components: first, we will gather citizen scientist data on tree height, diameter, and species within the GLOBE Observer public facing Tree protocol in plots with overlapping GEDI data in GEDI footprints. Second, we will assess the motivations of (IPLCs) to increase their engagement and use of GLOBE through community focus groups. Third, we will expand the use of GLOBE through engaging with GLOBE’s citizen science network across four countries including the development of a framework for using citizen science in low-income regions that implements best practices in the engagement of Indigenous People and Local Communities (IPLCs).
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