REEXPLORA: Tracking biodiversity change with virtual resurveys of historical exploration
Navn på bevillingshaver
Naia Morueta-Holme
Titel
Associate Professor
Institution
University of Copenhagen
Beløb
DKK 6,999,002
År
2025
Bevillingstype
Semper Ardens: Accelerate
Hvad?
We will combine ground-level photos, historical biodiversity data, and AI to map fine-scale habitat quality and track species distribution changes over time. This includes a virtual resurvey of a 2,500 km 1850s botanical transect and models trained on millions of images.
Hvorfor?
Conservation decisions need accurate predictions of biodiversity change, but current methods often fail at local and decadal scales. By integrating historical data with modern imagery, we can uncover long-term trends and drivers, improving ecological forecasts for a rapidly changing world.
Hvordan?
Using deep learning, we will analyze millions of ground-based images like Google Street View and link them with biodiversity records. This will help us conduct virtual resurveys and estimate species habitat quality from landscape photos at unprecedented scales, allowing us to assess the drivers of temporal biodiversity change.