Conservation applications of astronaut photographs of earth: tidal-flat loss (Japan), elephant effects on vegetation (Botswana), and seagrass and mangrove monitoring (Australia)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) photographs taken by astronauts from low Earth orbit can provide information relevant to conservation biology. This data source is now more accessible because of improvements in digitizing technology, Internet file transfer, and availability of im...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Conservation biology Vol. 15; no. 4; pp. 876 - 884
Main Authors:	Robinson, J.A, Lulla, K.P, Kashiwagi, M, Suzuki, M, Nellis, M.D, Bussing, C.E, Long, W.J.L, McKenzie, L.J
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Boston, MA, USA Blackwell Science Inc 01-08-2001 Blackwell Science
Subjects:	Astronauts Brackish Conservation biology Elephantidae Elephants Environmental conservation Freshwater Habitat conservation Marine Marine photography natural resources Photograph conservation Pixels technology Vegetation ISEW, Australia, Queensland, Shoalwater Bay Australia Botswana, Chobe Natl. Park Botswana Japan INW, Japan, Kyushu, Nagasaki Prefect., Isahaya Bay
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Summary:	National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) photographs taken by astronauts from low Earth orbit can provide information relevant to conservation biology. This data source is now more accessible because of improvements in digitizing technology, Internet file transfer, and availability of image processing software. We present three examples of conservation-related projects that benefited from the use of astronaut photographs. First, NASA scientists requested that astronauts photograph the area of the controversial Isahaya Bay reclamation project in Japan. Japanese researchers used photographs from before and after the reclamation as a tool for communication with the public about the effects of tidal-flat loss. The newly acquired images and the availability of high-resolution digital images from NASA archives provided timely public information on the observed changes. Second, we digitally classified and analyzed a Space Shuttle photograph of Chobe National Park in Botswana to identify the locations of woodlands affected by elephants. Field validation later confirmed that areas identified on the image showed evidence of elephant damage. Third, we used a summary map from intensive field surveys of seagrasses in Shoalwater Bay, Australia, as reference data for a supervised classification of a digitized photograph taken from orbit. The classification distinguished seagrasses, sediments, and mangroves with accuracy approximating that in studies using other satellite remote-sensing data. Astronaut photographs are in the public domain, and the database of nearly 400,000 photographs from the late 1960s to the present is available at a single searchable location on the Internet (http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/ sseop). These photographs can be used by conservation biologists as a source of general information about the landscape and for quantitative mapping.
Bibliography:	ArticleID:COBI00158 istex:B6A83A06807C070880A614823C1D88EF7EAD26E9 ark:/67375/WNG-41M0BDM8-Q ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2
ISSN:	0888-8892 1523-1739
DOI:	10.1046/j.1523-1739.2001.015004876.x