Principal Investigator: Matthew Hansen Co Investigators: Janet Nackoney, Peter Potapov Sponsor: NASA (Jane Goodall Institute) Time Period: 2014 to 2017 Graduate Researchers: Sam Jantz Project Description The University of Maryland has partnered with the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) and NASA to develop a monitoring system to help protect remaining chimpanzee habitat. The chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 1996, is threatened by habitat loss from resource extraction and land conversion, as well as hunting, disease and the illegal pet trade. It has been estimated that more than 70% of chimpanzee's tropical forest habitats in Africa are now threatened by infrastructure development and human-induced land use change. It has been estimated that their cumulative population has declined by more than 66 % over the past 40 years. Understanding the relative condition, or "health," of chimpanzee habitat at high spatial resolution across the chimpanzee range will be key for planning effective conservation strategies for the species.This project focuses on the development of a decision support system (DSS) that uses a combination of modeling, data derived from remote sensing, and crowd-sourced field data to forecast and systematically monitor Eastern and Central chimpanzee habitat health.The DSS will help the Jane Goodall Institute target and prioritize required conservation actions to protect chimpanzees, providing near real-time access to data describing current threats and status of chimpanzee populations throughout their range. The project is funded by the NASA Earth Science Division Applied Sciences Program's "Ecological forecasting for conservation and natural resource management" solicitation NNH12ZDA001N-ECOF. Related Publications: Jantz, S.M., Pintea, L., Nackoney, J., Hansen, M.C. (2018) Global forest maps in support of conservation monitoring. In: Satellite Remote Sensing for Conservation Action - Case Studies from Aquatic and Terrestrial Ecosystems (A. Leidner & G. Buchanan, Eds.). Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. Jantz, S.M., Pintea, L., Nackoney, J., Hansen, M.C. (2016) Landsat ETM+ and SRTM Data Provide Near Real-Time Monitoring of Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) Habitats in Africa. Remote Sensing, 8(5), 427. Related Projects: CARPE I CARPE II CARPE III: Monitoring the Forest Resources of the Congo Basin Land-Use Planning in the Maringa-Lopori-Wamba Landscape, Democratic Republic of the Congo