Remote Sensing in Support of Ecosystem Management Treaties

Alex de Sherbinin* and John Mickelson, CIESIN, The Earth Institute, Columbia University
*corresponding author: [email protected]

Joint Workshop on NASA Biodiversity, Terrestrial Ecology, and Related Applied Sciences
College Park, MD, 21-25 August 2006
Case Study of Laguna Merin Utilizing RS to Predict Species Richness
Abstract: Concern for the impact of human activities on biodiversity There have been a number of studies that have sought to predict
helped launch the international environmental movement in the species abundance based either solely on remote sensing data or
1960s. This movement in turn helped to spawn a number of
on combinations of remotely sensed, elevation, slope and field
international agreements, including CITES (1968), the Ramsar
Convention on Wetlands (1972), the Convention on Biological
data. Such applications respond to a need clearly articulated in the
Diversity (1992), and the Convention to Combat Desertification texts and decisions of multiple ecosystem management treaties for
(1992). It has also spawned a multi-million dollar research enterprise biodiversity inventory and assessment, as well as for tools for
that has grown from early roots in taxonomic fieldwork to include a conservation priority setting. Although there is general recognition
large array of sub-disciplines such as conservation biology, that the best possible data on species richness and rareness are
restoration ecology, and plant and animal genetics. As technology obtained from field surveys, full field inventories of the vast tracts
has advanced, so has the tool kit used by conservationists. The of land that have not yet been surveyed would be cost prohibitive.
convergence of trends in the develop-ment of environmental
Even if cost were not an issue, full surveys are time consuming,
agreements, biodiversity research, and advanced technologies has
led quite naturally to the application of remote sensing to ecosystem
and given the rates of habitat destruction in the tropical
Laguna Merín (Lagoa Mirim in Portuguese) is a large lake on the management and, consciously or unconsciously, to the concerns ecosystems that possess the richest diversity, conservationists
border between Brazil and Uruguay. It is the second largest raised and “legitimized” by environmental treaties. This poster exa- generally agree that more expedient methods need to be tested
freshwater lake in South America after Lake Titicaca in the Andes. mines the application of remote sensing to environmental treaties and applied wherever possible. Thus, biologists and landscape
The lake and its surrounding wetlands comprise one of the major with particular reference to pilot applications in the Laguna Merín ecologists have explored the relationship between remote sensing
transboundary watersheds in South America, supporting a great basin, a transboundary lake and wetland complex on the border of derived measures of landscape richness and actual field measures
Brazil and Uruguay. of biodiversity in order to determine the degree to which the
diversity of flora and fauna, including a large proportion of the
region’s endemic species and many species of migratory birds. In relationship can be extrapolated to areas that have not been
recognition of its value, the Uruguayan government designated the surveyed. Because climate heavily influences potential vegetation
Bañados del Este on the lake’s western shore a Ramsar Wetland For the full report upon which this poster is based, visit and ecosystem dynamics, the subsections below are organized by
of International Importance and a UNESCO Man and Biosphere http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/rs-treaties/laguna.html bioclimatic zone. Summaries of the methods and findings of the
(MAB), and BirdLife International designated the area just south of studies that sought to predict species presence/absence or
the lake as a globally important Endemic Bird Area. On the richness using remote sensing are found in Table 1.
Brazilian side, the Ecological Station at Taím is covered MAB
Reserve for the Atlantic Rainforest (Mata Atlantica).
Since the 1970s the region has seen a dramatic expansion in rice
cultivation that has encroached on wildlife habitats, and there has
also been an expansion of plantation forests (pine and eucalyptus)
and tourism development (on the Uruguayan side). These
developments have had a significant impact on the ecosystems of
the basin. An integrated approach to conservation and develop-
ment is therefore essential to maintain healthy ecosystems and
protect biodiversity. Fortunately, in addition to the international site
designations mentioned above, the basin is under a bi-national
treaty for cooperation and resource utilization.
The main goal of the remote sensing pilot project was to construct
baselines of ecologically relevant land cover patterns (using
Landsat imagery) that reflect relative importance to migratory
water fowl, wading and shore birds and resident passerine and
non-passerine arboreal bird species (see image below). The
process was informed by field work in March and October 2004 on
both sides of the lake, conducted by a bi-national team of biolo-
gists in the areas in and around Arroio del Rei (Brazilian side) and
to the south of the Rio Tacuari (Uruguayan side) (see image
above). By establishing adequately detailed geospatial baselines
and conservation priorities, and by providing decision support
templates, future surveys and conservation efforts can be
optimized to protect and conserve regional resources.

Acknowledgements: This work was carried out by the Center for International
Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) under the Remote Sensing
Technologies for Ecosystem Management Treaties project funded by the U.S.
Department of State Bureau of Oceans, Environment and International Scientific
Affairs under award number S-LMAQM-03-H-0042. The genesis of the project
was a workshop co-organized by CIESIN, IUCN and MEDIAS-France and
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