Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
6.9
2.8
Journals
IJGI
Special Issues
Geospatial Data and Services for Wildlife Management and Conservation
share announcement

Geospatial Data and Services for Wildlife Management and Conservation

A special issue of ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information (ISSN 2220-9964).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2021) | Viewed by 11782

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Żaneta Kaszta

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU), Zoology Department, University of Oxford, The Recanati Kaplan Centre, Tubney House, Abingdon Road, Tubney, Abingdon OX13 5QL, UK
Interests: spatial ecology; biostatistics; GIS; spatial behaviour; landscape ecology; habitat use; species distribution models; remote sensing; population genetics; landscape change simulations; wildlife conservation
Dr. Lara L. Sousa

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU), Zoology Department, University of Oxford, The Recanati Kaplan Centre, Tubney House, Abingdon Road, Tubney, Abingdon OX13 5QL, UK
Interests: marine ecology; spatial ecology; biostatistics; GIS; spatial behaviour; species distribution models; landscape ecology; wildlife conservation
Mr. Patrick Burns

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems, Northern Arizona University, 1295 Knoles Dr, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA
Interests: earth observation; remote sensing; GIS; lidar; hyperspectral imaging; species distribution modelling; habitat and wildlife conservation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

There has been a rapid development of methods to remotely collect large amounts of geospatial data on landscape characteristics, natural resources, and even animal locations and movement across various spatial and temporal scales. Combining these new datasets together creates a unique opportunity for efficient, data-driven wildlife management and conservation from local to global extents. However, acquiring and managing this vast amount of information comes with challenges. Geospatial services, which often utilize GIS (geographic information systems), GPS (global positioning system), and/or remote sensing observations, provide the integrative technology to create, analyze, maintain, and distribute geospatial data and information. Various geospatial applications enable improved and often on-the-fly data visualization, analysis, interoperability, modeling, and decision support.


In this Special Issue, we call for papers exploring the vast subject of acquiring, managing and analyzing geospatial data for improved wildlife management and conservation. The issue will also focus on novel examples of spatial data applications and services. This includes studies on monitoring and modeling biodiversity and species behavioral ecology through camera trapping or satellite tracking of marine and terrestrial megafauna movements and distribution ranges; use of geospatial data and applications in landscape connectivity, genetics and populations dynamics studies; remote sensing applications to understand species–habitat relationships and to monitor and model both the dynamics and the impact of temporal changes in terrestrial and marine ecosystems; and real examples of geospatial datasets or services (applications) being used by management and conservation groups/agencies.

 

Dr. Żaneta Kaszta
Dr. Lara L. Sousa
Mr. Patrick Burns
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Remote Sensing
  • Spatial Modelling
  • GIS Services
  • Species Occurrence and Distribution
  • Change Detection
  • Landscape Connectivity
  • Decision Support Systems

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (3 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

20 pages, 6887 KiB  
Article
Structural Connectivity of Asia’s Protected Areas Network: Identifying the Potential of Transboundary Conservation and Cost-Effective Zones
by Melissa Penagos Gaviria, Żaneta Kaszta and Mohammad S. Farhadinia
ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2022, 11(7), 408; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi11070408 - 19 Jul 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2924
Abstract
Human activities can degrade landscape connectivity and disrupt ecological flows, jeopardising the functional integrity of processes. This study presents a quantitative assessment of Asia’s protected areas’ (PAs) structural connectivity using landscape metrics, as well as analyses of the Cost-Effective Zones’ (CEZs). Using nine [...] Read more.
Human activities can degrade landscape connectivity and disrupt ecological flows, jeopardising the functional integrity of processes. This study presents a quantitative assessment of Asia’s protected areas’ (PAs) structural connectivity using landscape metrics, as well as analyses of the Cost-Effective Zones’ (CEZs). Using nine landscape metrics, we assessed connectivity at zonal (country borders and interior), national, regional, and geographical (islands and continent) levels. The results showed that the structural connectivity of Asia’s PAs network measured by a Connectance index was very low (0.08% without country borders and 9.06% for the average country analysis). In general, connectivity was higher within borders (0.36%) than within the countries (0.22%). Islands exhibited significantly higher Area-weighted mean patch area, Proximity index and Largest patch index, suggesting more integrity and connectiveness. When comparing Asian regions, Western Asia presented the lowest values for Percentage of landscape and Proximity index. We found that only 15% of the CEZs in Asia were under PAs designation, and more CEZs are located in the interior, but the majority with the highest priority was in the borders (9%). We advocate that expanding PAs coverage, specifically targeting areas that increase connectivity (e.g., through transboundary PAs), should be a priority to maintain their ecological function. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geospatial Data and Services for Wildlife Management and Conservation)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 1086 KiB  
Article
Pathwalker: A New Individual-Based Movement Model for Conservation Science and Connectivity Modelling
by Siddharth Unnithan Kumar, Żaneta Kaszta and Samuel A. Cushman
ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2022, 11(6), 329; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi11060329 - 30 May 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3958
Abstract
Understanding organism movement is at the heart of many ecological disciplines. The study of landscape connectivity—the extent to which a landscape facilitates organism movement—has grown to become a central focus of spatial ecology and conservation science. Several computational algorithms have been developed to [...] Read more.
Understanding organism movement is at the heart of many ecological disciplines. The study of landscape connectivity—the extent to which a landscape facilitates organism movement—has grown to become a central focus of spatial ecology and conservation science. Several computational algorithms have been developed to model connectivity; however, the major models in use today are limited by their lack of flexibility and simplistic assumptions of movement behaviour. In this paper, we introduce a new spatially-explicit, individual- and process-based model called Pathwalker, which simulates organism movement and connectivity through heterogeneous landscapes as a function of landscape resistance, the energetic cost of movement, mortality risk, autocorrelation, and directional bias towards a destination, all at multiple spatial scales. We describe the model’s structure and parameters and present statistical evaluations to demonstrate the influence of these parameters on the resulting movement patterns. Written in Python 3, Pathwalker works for any version of Python 3 and is freely available to download online. Pathwalker models movement and connectivity with greater flexibility compared with the dominant connectivity algorithms currently available in conservation science, thereby, enabling more detailed predictions for conservation practice and management. Moreover, Pathwalker provides a highly capable simulation framework for exploring theoretical and methodological questions that cannot be addressed with empirical data alone. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geospatial Data and Services for Wildlife Management and Conservation)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

19 pages, 3596 KiB  
Article
Investigating Carnivore Guild Structure: Spatial and Temporal Relationships amongst Threatened Felids in Myanmar
by Pyae Phyoe Kyaw, David W. Macdonald, Ugyen Penjor, Saw Htun, Hla Naing, Dawn Burnham, Żaneta Kaszta and Samuel A. Cushman
ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2021, 10(12), 808; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi10120808 - 30 Nov 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3757
Abstract
The co-occurrence of felid species in Southeast Asia provides an unusual opportunity to investigate guild structure and the factors controlling it. Using camera-trap data, we quantified the space use, temporal activity, and multi-dimensional niche overlap of the tiger, clouded leopard, Asiatic golden cat, [...] Read more.
The co-occurrence of felid species in Southeast Asia provides an unusual opportunity to investigate guild structure and the factors controlling it. Using camera-trap data, we quantified the space use, temporal activity, and multi-dimensional niche overlap of the tiger, clouded leopard, Asiatic golden cat, marbled cat, and leopard cat in the Htamanthi Wildlife Sanctuary, Myanmar. We hypothesised that the spatio-temporal behaviour of smaller cats would reflect the avoidance of the larger cats, and similar-sized guild members would partition their niches in space or time to reduce resource competition. Our approach involved modelling single-species occupancy, pairwise spatial overlap using Bayesian inference, activity overlap with kernel density estimation, and multivariate analyses. The felid assembly appeared to be partitioned mainly on a spatial rather than temporal dimension, and no significant evidence of mesopredator release was observed. Nonetheless, the temporal association between the three mesopredators was inversely related to the similarity in their body sizes. The largest niche differences in the use of space and time occurred between the three smallest species. This study offers new insight into carnivore guild assembly and adds substantially to knowledge of five of the least known felids of conservation concern. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geospatial Data and Services for Wildlife Management and Conservation)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-3
Back to TopTop