Photo Courtesy of Will Parson, CBP
Bay Biodiversity Significance
Photo courtesy of Nature Serve
In July 2019, NatureServe unveiled the Map of Biodiversity Importance, an innovative tool meant to identify critical areas for species conservation. A product of collaborative science, the Map of Biodiversity Importance uses machine learning and environmental predictor variables to build high fidelity models of the habitat of imperiled species. Dr. Healy Hamilton, Chief Scientist at NatureServe, described this new tool as part of the intelligent nervous system for conserving the diversity of life. NatureServe has worked in partnership with the Nature Conservancy, Esri Technology and Microsoft’s AI for Earth program to compile two decades worth of data into this living map. Meant to guide conservation decisions, this tool uses the data of the NatureServe network to create habitat models for a set of taxonomically and ecologically diverse set of species.
To learn more about The Map of Biodiversity Importance and explore other habitat sustainability models visit: http://natureserve.org/conservation-tools/projects/map-biodiversity-importance