| [Back to front page] | Biodiversity The need for accurate predictive information for forest management planning is vital. Detailed biodiversity surveying over more than a fraction of a forest management unit is impractical. A valuable management tool would be to predict species occurrence and habitat type from simple environmental information that can be obtained from GIS and remote sensing. In addition such predictions would assist in survey design for further biodiversity studies. Elevation is known to be an important factor in determining species composition, topography may also have significant influence on the ecological resources and biodiversity of an area. Including these parameters in biodiversity research will increase the relevance and applicability of results. CIFOR is conducting research in Central Kalimantan to assess the impact of logging operations on biodiversity in lowland dipterocarp forest and to identify the relationship between topographic variation and biodiversity. This study focuses on several species of wildlife (small mammals, birds and primates) and the components of their habitat as represented by vegetation structure. These variables had been chosen as indicators of biodiversity to enable rapid assessment and to include a range of interrelated elements. Topographic variation was used to predict various environmental parameters and these were sampled in compartments with different logging histories. The study took place around Wanariset Sangai where there has been logging activity for several years. CIFOR has also developed a predictive software package, DOMAIN. When linked to a GIS and a digital elevation model, DOMAIN can use climatic variables to predict and map plant distribution.
|