Descripción del proyecto
Los satélites pueden ayudar a evaluar y conservar la biodiversidad
La biodiversidad hace referencia a la variedad y variabilidad de la vida en la Tierra en todos sus niveles, desde los genes hasta los ecosistemas. Así, la conservación de la biodiversidad es fundamental para la vida. Hasta la fecha, su vigilancia consiste principalmente en observaciones de campo, como contar árboles y censar aves. Sin embargo, existe una necesidad crítica de transformar la forma en que se vigila la biodiversidad en su totalidad a fin de evitar una mayor pérdida y restablecer unos niveles saludables. El proyecto BIOSPACE, financiado con fondos europeos, adopta un enfoque diferente mediante la combinación de dos técnicas de vanguardia: la teledetección vía satélite y el análisis de ADN ambiental. El resultado será un mapa de biodiversidad con una mayor amplitud y profundidad taxonómica y funcional que la observación de campo realizada por personas.
Objetivo
Life, with all its diversity, is in crisis. As humans increasingly encroach on biologically complex semi- natural landscapes, no organism, place or ecological function remains unaffected. While all 196 parties (195 countries plus the European Union) to the UN Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) have agreed to monitor the state of biodiversity, the currently available methods to do so leave much to be desired. Traditional monitoring involves the field observation of species by trained specialists, aided by skilled volunteers, whose expertise is restricted to specific biotic groupings. In a process that is both time consuming and inconsistent across time and space, botanists identify and record the presence of plant species and ornithologists the bird biota, resulting in 'unpopular' biotic groups such as fungi, bacteria and insects being under-observed or escaping identification altogether. In this project, a fundamentally different approach to terrestrial biodiversity monitoring couples next generation satellite remote sensing with environmental DNA (eDNA) profiling, complemented where available by legacy human-observed datasets. Satellite remote sensing is able to survey the environment as a single, continuous, fine-resolution map, while eDNA profiling can rapidly quantify much greater taxonomical and functional breadth and depth than human field observation. This project combines, for the first time, these two powerful, cutting-edge techniques for monitoring biodiversity at the global level in a consistent manner. Following from this, another key innovation will be the deepening of our scientific understanding of how biodiversity is impacted by anthropogenic pressure as well as by natural environmental gradients. In concert, these scientific developments will enable the accurate and fine grain monitoring of biodiversity from space – a ground-breaking contribution to the quest to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals and CBD Aichi targets.
Ámbito científico
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringvehicle engineeringaerospace engineeringsatellite technology
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiologymycology
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringremote sensing
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystems
- natural sciencesbiological scienceszoologyentomology
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
ERC-ADG - Advanced GrantInstitución de acogida
7522 NB Enschede
Países Bajos