Continuous monitoring of earth from space is a well-established method to record the changing environment. These data and the models based on them are becoming an increasingly important basis for planning and monitoring of wildlife translocation and conservation measures. In particular, it supplements the use of biologging devices, as widely used method for monitoring of animals.
The European LIFE-project for the reintroduction of the endangered Northern Bald Ibis (Geronticus eremita) is using remote sensing data in the context of a translocation. To set up a species distribution model along the entire northern foothills of the Alps, indices describing environmental conditions were calculated from satellite images of Landsat-8 and Sentinel-1. A random forest model with 84.5% overall accuracy was fitted on NBI GPS positions, used to identify regions with high predicted foraging suitability for further translocation measures.
Currently, this release population is increasingly threatened in its migration behaviour by climate change. These effects should be mitigated by a collaboration with the Spanish „Proyecto Eremita“. A fusion of our migratory and their sedentary release population aims at providing both populations with greater ecological flexibility. In this context, it is essential to identify suitable habitats and to record environmental changes in a pan-European perspective by use of satellite-based earth observation data.
Our project is thus exemplary for an interdisciplinary approach in which remote sensing data, supplemented by comprehensive GPS monitoring, form an essential basis to design a large-scale translocation project and to minimize the impact of climate change in the release population.