Satellite tv for pc imagery aids tiger conservation
Some 200 years in the past, tigers ranged over most of southeast Asia and all the best way to the Black Sea in japanese Europe. However human populations have reduce their vary by greater than 90%. Now, tigers are confined to only 10 international locations. However NASA’s space satellites can map Earth’s terrain to assist conservation efforts for large animals, together with tigers. On Could 3, 2024, Keith Gaddis, the ecological conservation program supervisor at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said:
Satellites observe huge areas of Earth’s floor on each day to weekly schedules. That helps scientists monitor habitats that might be logistically difficult and time-consuming to survey from the bottom … essential for animals like tigers that roam giant territories.
Shrinking territory
The lower in territory and inhabitants numbers for tigers has been extreme over the previous two centuries. Whereas tigers’ numbers hit a low of about 3,200 individuals in 2010, they’ve made a slight rebound. The excellent news is that scientists estimate there are about 3,700 to 5,500 wild tigers left.
Nevertheless, their habitat remains to be declining. Prior to now twenty years, they’ve misplaced about 11% extra territory. Their vary has gone from about 396,000 sq. miles (1.025 million sq km) in 2001 all the way down to about 352,000 sq. miles (912,000 sq km) in 2020.
And over that point interval, three international locations – Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos – have seen their tigers disappear utterly. However different areas with conservation areas, corresponding to Thailand’s Western Forest Complex, may very well be beginning factors for tigers emigrate into adjoining areas. That’s in keeping with a recent study from December 2023 within the journal Frontiers in Conservation Science.
Monitoring habitat from space
The analysis crew used Google Earth Engine and NASA Earth observations with information from the VIIRS and MODIS sensors and from Landsat satellites. These are instruments they will use to assist conservation efforts in near-real time. Right here’s how NASA Earth Observatory explains the map under:
This map exhibits the standing of tiger habitat as of January 2020 with respect to their indigenous vary (tan). Orange areas present zones of appropriate habitat the place tigers are recognized to be discovered. These are areas to be conserved and expanded, together with prey populations … Inexperienced areas are ’empty forests’ the place tigers aren’t recognized to reside lately, however as a result of these areas have been appropriate for tigers up to now and are nonetheless sufficiently big to help a tiger inhabitants, they’re potential landscapes for tiger restoration. The remaining colours present the place habitat is doubtlessly appropriate however tiger residence is unknown (brown), and areas the place habitat is simply too fragmented to help tigers (black).
Discover the massive stretches of potential tiger restoration habitat (inexperienced). If tigers might attain these areas, both via pure dispersal or energetic reintroduction, and assuming they’ve sufficient meals to outlive there, it might ‘improve the land base for tigers by 50%,’ the scientists reported.
Tiger conservation gives hope
Lead creator Eric Sanderson of the New York Botanical Backyard said:
It wasn’t so way back that folks thought tigers have been going to go extinct within the wild. However there’s nonetheless much more room for tigers on this planet than even tiger consultants thought. We have been solely in a position to determine that out as a result of we introduced collectively all of this information from NASA and built-in it with data from the sector.
Entrance picture of this video through Waldemar/ Pexels.
Backside line: Researchers use satellite information to assist tiger conservation efforts. Tigers are dropping their habitat, however there are nonetheless many areas they might increase into.
Read more: Tigers are the biggest cats: Lifeform of the week
