ENRE DGO| Scanning for Lifeforms
Scanning for Lifeforms
Life Monitoring
Summary
All ecosystems are composed of complex processes in which a vast variety of life forms are involved. The lifeforms coexist in their natural environment, in a perfect equilibrium, providing services for all other organisms, including the human beings. Sadly, several factors, like human action, natural disasters, climate change among others, are a threat for this delicate equilibrium.In this project we develop the idea of creating a virtual tool dedicated to manage critical data related to animal species. The main objective of the tool is to be able to identify and easily acces the most important information related to that specific species and its habitat. We also considered an statistical
How We Addressed This Challenge
Human beings are not isolated from the natural ecosystems, and every problem there affects, or will eventually affect, our lifestyle directly. It’s also our responsibility to make sure that by developing human society, we are not damaging any natural environment.
One of the most important objectives, in order to take care of this situation, is to come together and develop technology that manages critical information about what’s happening in the natural world.
The development of this technology, such as the one presented in this document, will help us to better understand the natural world, make predictions about the future, and in general it will help us to preserve our biodiversity.
How We Developed This Project
We decided to make this project because our professional profiles are in the area of renewable energies and biotechnology, so we are interested both in the natural world and in technology, and we thought we could use part of this scientific area along mathematical models and softwares like Excel.
The principal objective behind this project is the desire to have a better world for us and the future generations, and if, at the moment, we don't have the tools and knowledge necessary we will try it.
How We Used Space Agency Data in This Project
This project uses NASA data in order to get the most recent information about the habitat of each species. The objective is to identify the coordinates of the habitat, and once located to download the important information about it.
The main maps used would be temperature, rain, vegetation, and fires on the area. Gathering this information in a single tool would save research time and would make it easier to compare the changes in the ecosystem and to identify possible risks in the future.
Project Demo
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1QmIC9ntoBNCBEpjs1NbqWd7dDtt1Jp3L?usp=sharing
In this Google Drive, you can see a 30s video explaining the most important things about the project, also there are some prototype screenshots of the app and a document with more detailed information.
Data & Resources
Resources
In order for the virtual tool to operate, it’s necessary to have access to the many data banks available about the lifeforms on earth and their ecosystems. Some of the resources that the tool could be based on are:
- NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS)
With the database available through the satellite service from nace, we can access to different relevant information about the ecosystems of interests, like temperature, vegetation index, weather phenomenon, etc.
https://worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov/
Temperature (https://worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov/?t=2020-10-04-T18%3A19%3A53Z&l=MODIS_Aqua_Land_Surface_Temp_Night,MODIS_Aqua_Land_Surface_Temp_Day,MODIS_Terra_CorrectedReflectance_TrueColor)
Leaf Index (https://go.nasa.gov/36CxbUt)
Precipitation (https://worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov/?t=2017-08-17-T12%3A00%3A00Z&l=AIRS_Precipitation_Night,AIRS_Precipitation_Day,MODIS_Terra_CorrectedReflectance_TrueColor)
- Movebank
On this site we can determine the movement of species on earth's surface.
- INaturalis
This tool allows users to register observations of certain species in the wild.
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility
An international network that facilitates information about all types of life on earth.