245
Exploring Analysis Ready Samples (AppEEARS) offered by NASA and US
Geological Survey (USGS) is a user-friendly tool that enables simple and efficient
downloads and transformations of geospatial data from a number of federal data
archives from the United States [e.g., the Land Process Distributed Active Archive
Center (LP DAAC)]. Additionally, Geomorphons provides a user-friendly interface
that automates the calculation of complex geodiversity features from topography
data (Jasiewicz and Stepinski 2013). Training the next generation of ecologists and
conservation biologists in RS will be integral to overcoming some of these hurdles
and bridging the gaps between RS and ecology and conservation.
10.6 Conclusion
Cross-scale studies of relationships between geodiversity and biodiversity using RS
and large field-based data sets hold promise for evaluating processes underlying
biodiversity and identifying scales and methods for its monitoring and management.
Realizing this potential will require more interaction among biodiversity scientists,
geoscientists, RS experts, and statisticians to reconcile the challenges associated
with differences in scales, available data products, disciplinary barriers, and available methods for connecting geodiversity to biodiversity. These challenges are far
from trivial, but overcoming them has the potential to result in key ecological
insights that will help us to be better stewards of the entire ecological theater.
Acknowledgments We thank J. Cavender-Bares, J. Gamon, A. Lausch, M. Madritch, F. Schrodt,
P. Townsend, and S. Ustin for comments on the chapter while at NIMBioS. Funding for the NASA
bioXgeo working group was provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) Ecological Forecasting Program, Earth Science Division, Grant #NNX16AQ44G. Additional
support for PLZ, KD, QR, JG, and AF came from Michigan State University. SR was supported by
Bryn Mawr College KG Fund. AMW acknowledges support from NASA’s Ecological Forecasting
Program, Earth Science Division, Grant #NNX16AQ45G. MH was supported by the NASA
Biodiversity Program and MODIS Science Program, Grant #NNX14AP07G. SO acknowledges
support from the NSF Macrosystems Biology Program, Grant #638688. We thank the National
Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) for housing the working group meetings.
KDG was supported by an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship served at NASA. The
views expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect those of NASA, the US Government, or the
American Association for the Advancement of Science.
References
Alcântara EH, Stech JL, Lorenzzetti JA, Bonnet MP, Casamitjana X, Assireu AT, de Moraes L,
Novo EM (2010) Remote sensing of water surface temperature and heat flux over a tropical
hydroelectric reservoir. Remote Sens Environ 114:2651–2665
Anderson MG, Ferree CE (2010) Conserving the stage: climate change and the geophysical underpinnings of species diversity. PLoS One 5:e11554
10 Remote Sensing of Geodiversity as a Link to Biodiversity
Exploring Analysis Ready Samples (AppEEARS) offered by NASA and US
Geological Survey (USGS) is a user-friendly tool that enables simple and efficient
downloads and transformations of geospatial data from a number of federal data
archives from the United States [e.g., the Land Process Distributed Active Archive
Center (LP DAAC)]. Additionally, Geomorphons provides a user-friendly interface
that automates the calculation of complex geodiversity features from topography
data (Jasiewicz and Stepinski 2013). Training the next generation of ecologists and
conservation biologists in RS will be integral to overcoming some of these hurdles
and bridging the gaps between RS and ecology and conservation.
10.6 Conclusion
Cross-scale studies of relationships between geodiversity and biodiversity using RS
and large field-based data sets hold promise for evaluating processes underlying
biodiversity and identifying scales and methods for its monitoring and management.
Realizing this potential will require more interaction among biodiversity scientists,
geoscientists, RS experts, and statisticians to reconcile the challenges associated
with differences in scales, available data products, disciplinary barriers, and available methods for connecting geodiversity to biodiversity. These challenges are far
from trivial, but overcoming them has the potential to result in key ecological
insights that will help us to be better stewards of the entire ecological theater.
Acknowledgments We thank J. Cavender-Bares, J. Gamon, A. Lausch, M. Madritch, F. Schrodt,
P. Townsend, and S. Ustin for comments on the chapter while at NIMBioS. Funding for the NASA
bioXgeo working group was provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) Ecological Forecasting Program, Earth Science Division, Grant #NNX16AQ44G. Additional
support for PLZ, KD, QR, JG, and AF came from Michigan State University. SR was supported by
Bryn Mawr College KG Fund. AMW acknowledges support from NASA’s Ecological Forecasting
Program, Earth Science Division, Grant #NNX16AQ45G. MH was supported by the NASA
Biodiversity Program and MODIS Science Program, Grant #NNX14AP07G. SO acknowledges
support from the NSF Macrosystems Biology Program, Grant #638688. We thank the National
Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) for housing the working group meetings.
KDG was supported by an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship served at NASA. The
views expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect those of NASA, the US Government, or the
American Association for the Advancement of Science.
References
Alcântara EH, Stech JL, Lorenzzetti JA, Bonnet MP, Casamitjana X, Assireu AT, de Moraes L,
Novo EM (2010) Remote sensing of water surface temperature and heat flux over a tropical
hydroelectric reservoir. Remote Sens Environ 114:2651–2665
Anderson MG, Ferree CE (2010) Conserving the stage: climate change and the geophysical underpinnings of species diversity. PLoS One 5:e11554
10 Remote Sensing of Geodiversity as a Link to Biodiversity