Using NASA Data to Monitor Chimpanzee Habitat Suitability in Africa

  • Released Wednesday, September 13, 2023
View full credits
The historic chimpanzee habitat range (yellow) mapped with the current range (pink). A historic range only map can be found in the download button to the right.

The historic chimpanzee habitat range (yellow) mapped with the current range (pink). A historic range only map can be found in the download button to the right.

Major biodiversity loss as a result of land-use and land-cover change threatens populations of humans’ closest living relative, the chimpanzee. Continuous monitoring of chimpanzee habitats is necessary for the species’ conservation and one way to do that is through habitat suitability models (HSMs). HSMs use statistical and machine learning to predict the suitability of a location for a species based on environmental descriptors. The Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) uses NASA satellite data to create such models.

The maps on this page showcase some of the environmental model inputs derived from Landsat imagery and the resulting habitat suitability maps for a section in Uganda and the broader habitat range in Africa. The model inputs shown on this page are 1) tree height, 2) forest loss, 3) tree cover, 4) forest depth, 5) Landsat ETM+ band four, 6) Landsat ETM+ band five, 7) Landsat ETM+ band seven, and 7) normalized difference ratio of band four/band seven.

More information about these HSMs can be found in this paper.

Habitat Suitability Maps

Chimpanzee habitat suitability within the current habitat range at 30m resolution.

Chimpanzee habitat suitability within the current habitat range at 30m resolution.

Chimpanzee habitat suitability model results for the years 1999-2003, 2004-2006, 2007-2009, and 2010-2012. Each yearly range map can be found in the download drop-down menu to the right.

Chimpanzee habitat suitability model results for the years 1999-2003, 2004-2006, 2007-2009, and 2010-2012. Each yearly range map can be found in the download drop-down menu to the right.



Suitability Model Inputs

Chimpanzee habitat suitability model example inputs for a section in Uganda. The example inputs shown here are 1) tree height, 2) forest loss, 3) tree cover, 4) forest depth, 5) Landsat ETM+ band four, 6) Landsat ETM+ band five, 7) Landsat ETM+ band seven, and 7) normalized difference ratio of band four/band seven. This version contains the input titles in a listed order to the right.

Chimpanzee habitat suitability model example inputs for a section in Uganda. The example inputs shown here are 1) tree height, 2) forest loss, 3) tree cover, 4) forest depth, 5) Landsat ETM+ band four, 6) Landsat ETM+ band five, 7) Landsat ETM+ band seven, and 7) normalized difference ratio of band four/band seven. This version contains the input titles in a listed order to the right.

Chimpanzee habitat suitability model example inputs for a section in Uganda with titles listed above map.

Chimpanzee habitat suitability model example inputs for a section in Uganda with titles listed above map.

Chimpanzee habitat suitability model example inputs for a section in Uganda without titles.

Chimpanzee habitat suitability model example inputs for a section in Uganda without titles.

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

This page was originally published on Wednesday, September 13, 2023.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, September 13, 2023 at 2:53 PM EDT.

Papers used in this visualization

Jantz, Samuel M., Lilian Pintea, Janet Nackoney, and Matthew C. Hansen. 2016. "Landsat ETM+ and SRTM Data Provide Near Real-Time Monitoring of Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) Habitats in Africa" Remote Sensing 8, no. 5: 427. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs8050427

Datasets used in this visualization

Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details, nor the data sets themselves on our site.