Nature Map Earth
Crowd-sourcing data to develop a global map of biodiversity, carbon storage and other nature services.
Nature Map EarthSpatial Analysis and Data Science
Advancing plant and landscape spatial science, exploration and discovery.
Team lead: Dr Justin Moat
The Spatial Analysis and Data Science team researches and develops geospatial techniques on biodiversity for conservation and to improve people’s livelihoods.
Spatial distribution, resilience and conservation of plants
Below are some examples of our activities:
- Identifying vulnerable and resilient species, both wild and domesticated, to global change by combining environmental and biological information with spatial analysis. Biological information can include: geographical occurrences, functional traits, genomics and phylogeny.
- Identifying global conservation priorities by analysing our large-scale databases, including the World Checklist and the point data underpinning species extinction risk assessments to gain an understanding of historic and future distribution of plants.
- Understanding the ecological and evolutionary processes driving plant and fungi distribution, for example, demography, functional traits, biotic interactions, dispersal and genetic diversity.
Geospatial techniques
Below are some examples of our activities:
- Developing novel spatial algorithms for Kew’s critical work on extinction risk assessments, quantifying fragmentation and isolation, area of occupancy, dispersal and population metrics, to increase both numbers and quality of species assessments.
- Developing techniques in species distribution modelling and climate change projections, especially for useful and economically valuable species.
- Investigating and developing methods for working with remotely-sensed and Unmanned Aerial Vehicular (UAV aka drones) imagery, to classify plants, for species identification, plant health and abundance estimation.
- Producing and developing tools to help with specimen georeferencing and capturing data in the field.
- Providing training and services for staff and students, presenting our results and visualisation as multimedia outputs for the general public.
Team members
Senior research leader
Dr Justin Moat
Research leader
Dr Samuel Pironon
Research leader
Dr Carolina Tovar
Research fellows
Nicola Kühn
Joseph White
Post doctoral researcher
Dr Gary Egan
Research assistant
Ian Ondo
Guilherme Castro
Isabel Price
Senior spatial analyst
Jenny Williams
Spatial analyst
Tim Wilkinson
Visiting researchers
Susana Baena
Buntaro Kusumoto
HRAs
Oliver Whaley
PhD Students
Amanda Cooper
Zeren Yang
Hannah O'Sullivan
Interns
Mathilda Digby
Ruben Douglas
Elloise Budd
Projects
Remote sensing for the Caatinga of Brazil
Using new remote sensing technologies and methodologies to support conservation and sustainable use of dry tropical forests in Brazil.
Remote sensing for the Caatinga
Tropical Important Plant Areas (TIPAs) in Guinea-Conakry
Identifying Tropical Important Plant Areas (TIPAs) of Guinea-Conakry, West Africa.
TIPAs in Guinea-Conakry
Tropical Important Plant Areas (TIPAs) in Mozambique
Identifying and promoting the long-term conservation and sustainable management of Mozambique’s most important sites for plant diversity.
TIPAs in Mozambique
Boyacá’s Páramo Plants for Life
Assessing the impact of climate change on important plants for the ecosystem services of the páramos of Boyacá, one of 32 regions in Colombia.
Páramo Plants for Life
Building a climate resilient coffee economy for Ethiopia
To provide a climate-resilient strategy for coffee production in Ethiopia.
Coffee economy for Ethiopia
GeoCAT – Geospatial Conservation Assessment Tool
GeoCAT is a web tool that harnesses primary biological data for semi-automated IUCN Red List assessment and analysis.
GeoCAT
Kew’s Plant Assessment Unit
Accelerating the identification of plants threatened with extinction.
Plant Assessment Unit
Mainstreaming biodiversity conservation and climate resilience at Yayu Biosphere Reserve (Ethiopia)
Preserving biodiversity and improving livelihoods through the development of high quality coffee and climate resilient farming practices.
Mainstreaming biodiversity conservation
Where 4x4s fail: using paramotors to reach and protect the fog oases of Peru
Using paramotors and technology to understand more about the understudied and fragile fog oases in Peru
Peru fog oases