Spotlight on Zoo Science
May 5, 2003
Tracking the Fate of Myanmar’s Treasures by Satellite
National Zoo scientists are using high-resolution satellite imagery to track changes in Myanmar’s wild jungles, which are among the last strongholds for tigers and Asian elephants.
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| Areas covered by the satellite imagery used to track the condition of Myanmar's forests. (Source: NZP Conservation GIS Lab). |
Dr. Peter Leimgruber, who heads the Zoo’s GIS Lab, and his staff are comparing satellite images from the 1990s with images from 2000. Using Landsat satellite imagery, they are training a computer to automatically identify areas that were deforested between 1990 and 2000. The final result will be the first complete forest map of Myanmar that also highlights threatened and intact forest areas.
The Zoo scientists hope to use this state-of-the-art satellite technology to identify, monitor, and fight habitat loss and species extinction globally. The situation is grim in most of Southeast Asia. Thailand, for example, has lost more than 50 percent of its forests in only 30 years. Much of this forest was prime habitat for endangered species, among them tigers and Asian elephants. This makes Myanmar a crown jewel for forest conservation in mainland Southeast Asia.
Myanmar is reported to harbor more than half of mainland Southeast Asia’s remaining closed-canopy forest and had little deforestation during most of the 1970s and 1980s. New reports suggest that deforestation rates in Myanmar have increased dramatically in recent years, but no comprehensive study of all of Myanmar’s forests has been conducted.
Once complete, the National Zoo study will provide essential information to scientists, conservationists, and policy makers on the condition of Myanmar’s remaining forests. “Preliminary results are encouraging,” says Dan Kelly, a graduate student who works with Dr. Leimgruber on the mapping project. “It appears that deforestation rates are much below the 1.4 percent annual forest loss reported by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO).”
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| Preliminary forest map showing areas of deforestation and remaining closed-canopy cover in Myanmar. (Source: NZP Conservation GIS Lab) |
Thomas Mueller, another graduate student, adds, “Deforestation can be very high in local areas, especially in mangrove forests and dry deciduous forests, but overall there are still large tracts of forests covering much of the country.”
According to Dr. Leimgruber, the final results will be released later this summer, when an ongoing accuracy assessment is completed. He and his team intend to use the data for a more detailed study on the remaining Asian elephant habitat in the country. The maps from the satellite analysis can be viewed at the Zoo’s Conservation Atlas and will also be available for download later this year.
Browse
through preliminary maps of Myanmar’s forests
at our Conservation Atlas.
Note to Media: If you would like more information about this project, or any of the Zoo's conservation and science programs, please contact the Zoo's Office of Public Affairs.
