Journal article
Satellite imagery as a single source of predictor variables for habitat suitability modelling: How Landsat can inform the conservation of a critically endangered lemur
JJ Lahoz-Monfort, G Guillera-Arroita, EJ Milner-Gulland, RP Young, E Nicholson
Journal of Applied Ecology | Published : 2010
Abstract
1. Statistical modelling of habitat suitability is an important tool for planning conservation interventions, particularly for areas where species distribution data are expensive or hard to collect. Sometimes however the predictor variables typically used in habitat suitability modelling are themselves difficult to obtain or not meaningful at the geographical extent of the study, as is the case for the Alaotran gentle lemur Hapalemur alaotrensis, a critically endangered lemur confined to the marshes of Lake Alaotra in Madagascar.2. We developed a habitat suitability model where all predictor variables, including vegetation indices and image texture measures at different scales (as surrogates..
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Funding Acknowledgements
We thank the Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests of Madagascar for granting the permit to conduct this study; the Leverhulme Trust, a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit award to EJMG, and a Marie Curie Fellowship ('EcoEcoMonitoring') to EN for financial support; John Fa, Richard Lewis, Jonah Ratsimbazafy, Herizo Andrianandrasana and other Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust personnel in Madagascar, especially Bary Jean Rasolonjatovo in Ambatondrazaka; our local guides Richard Rasolonjatovo and Andre Rakotonierana; and Joaquin Hortal and two anonymous reviewers for comments that greatly improved the manuscript.