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Effective policy responses to changes in biodiversity are only possible with adaptable analytic tools that leverage the influx of data from biodiversity observation systems. The analytic tools must be streamlined and readily mastered by researchers making scientific recommendations. This projected created two new software packages to assess biodiversity change indicators. The first package used single species range maps in conjunction with remotely sensed products such as NASA (and other) satellites, including percent forest cover, vegetation classes, and NDVI, to estimate the species’ current range. The second package calculates the key indicators including single-species biodiversity change indicators such as range size, extent of occurrence, percent suitable land cover, or projected trends under future scenarios at multiple spatial extents. These software packages will feed directly into our international collaborator Colombia’s Instituto Humboldt’s BioModelos’ BON in a Box tools.   

Key results include:

  • The changeRangeR and BioModelos API functions have been integrated into the Wallace GUI software platform that enhance the functionality of both as BON in a Box tools. Testing demonstrated improvements in the performance of users’ abilities to estimate species’ ranges and calculate biodiversity change metrics.
  • A Group on Earth Observations–Google Earth Engine proposal was funded to project collaborators at BioModelos to produce free maps and protocols to identify near real-time loss habitat alerts.