Image related to website content

NASA’s BioSCape Project to assess Cape Floristic Region

21 Jul 2021 by Andrew Turner

NASA’s BioSCape Project to test remotely sensed data to assess Cape Floristic Region biodiversity

By Andrew Turner, CapeNature Restoration Ecologist.

The South Western Cape hosts a famously rich biodiversity, both terrestrial and marine, which is largely derived from the phenomenal levels of biodiversity change over very small distances (technically, represented by beta, gamma and zeta diversity as one expands spatial scope). This has attracted the attention of NASA, the United States of America’s Space Agency. NASA will be flying two specially equipped jets in the Western Cape in 2023 as part of the BioSCape project involving multiple research and conservation collaborators. This is quite unlike what most of us think of as a NASA mission, as their focus will not be on outer space, but on the earth’s surface and on the living elements in particular. This is part of an increasing recognition that biodiversity is a key ingredient for environmental resilience, function and sustainability at all scales from local to global.

This cutting edge research will be tackled using hyperspectral sensors which, unlike most current satellite-derived data, can scan a big section of the electro-magnetic spectrum from 380 nano metres to 12 micro metres. If there are any wavelengths that are informative in characterising vegetation patterns these sensors should be able to pick them up. They will also be making use of light detection and ranging (LIDAR), which is similar in concept to RADAR, but uses laser light to establish the heights of the earth’s surface features so that accurate 3D surfaces can be mapped. The main objective of this study is to see if this new method of Earth Observation can be related to ground-based biodiversity patterns. If this turns out to be the case, it will improve our ability to survey wide swathes of the planet and assess and predict biodiversity health.

CapeNature’s Protected Areas represent both the diversity of the Cape Floristic Region and surrounds, its change across landscapes, the numerous key natural ecological processes such as fire, and the not so natural impacts of invasive alien species. This representation provides an ideal opportunity to test the theory of tracking biodiversity from remotely-sensed data. On the ground we can quantify biodiversity in rigorous and detailed ways that we are currently seldom able to achieve. Knowing what is happening with biodiversity can inform us about what is happening with ecosystem processes. The focus for the Western Cape will be water availability, fire and invasive alien species. For example, it will be very interesting to see how well the new imagery can represent invasive alien species and groundwater dependent ecosystems. One of the proposals even includes collecting automated sound data so that we can assess a very different way of quantifying biodiversity that may be hard to see, but easy to hear. All of these systems are dynamic and there are constant changes in land-use and climate change. Getting this detailed window on biodiversity patterns is going to be invaluable to measure and evaluate environmental change in future when this means of data may become more easily accessible via satellite.


Image related to website content

Picture 1: One of the specially-equipped NASA aircraft. Credit: Johnson Space Centre.

Image related to website content

Picture 2: A LIDAR image of vegetation displaying an example of the 3d point cloud imagery obtainbable with this technology. Credit: NASA.

Share:

Related News

Klein Estuary Image 1
15 Aug 2025 by Pierre de Villiers
Rivers, Watersheds, and the Klein Estuary: A 2025 Natural Breach Event

Over millions of years, South Africa’s rivers and watersheds have evolved through the forces of erosion, rainfall, and shifting geology. A river catchment, or watershed, is an area of land where all surface water flows toward a single river, stream, or channel, eventually reaching the sea.

Seagulls
14 Aug 2025
Avian Influenza detected in Western Cape: Public urged to stay alert, not alarmed

High pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI or “bird flu”) is a viral disease of birds that can also, on rare occasions, infect humans and mammals. The virus spreads through bird faeces and droplets from the nose and mouth, and is present in other body fluids and tissues of dead birds. The disease can cause high mortality rates in domestic poultry.

Baboon icon
12 Aug 2025
Independent experts’ review of draft action plan for baboon management now available

The Cape Peninsula Baboon Management Joint Task Team (CPBMJTT) consisting of representatives from SANParks, CapeNature, and the City of Cape Town, wants to inform residents, interested parties, and stakeholders that the independent expert panel’s review of the proposed action plan on baboon management is now available to the public. 

Wilderness Nature Reserve
5 Aug 2025
Boost for freshwater biodiversity as Wilderness Nature Reserve declared

A new nature reserve has been declared in the Western Cape, marking another significant milestone for the province’s environment. The Wilderness Nature Reserve, spanning over 643 hectares, has been declared a Provincial Nature Reserve in terms of the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act (Act 57 of 2003).

MPA Day Rocherpan 2
1 Aug 2025
Rocherpan clean-up kicks off MPA Day 2025 celebrations

CapeNature kicked off Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Day celebrations with a community-driven beach clean-up at Rocherpan Nature Reserve on 31 July 2025. With school learners, volunteers, and the ever-popular Cubs Club mascot, Kai, lending a hand, all to highlight the link between marine and ocean protection and a public responsibility for conservation.

Winning hearts and minds through Marine Protected Areas Image 2
1 Aug 2025
Winning hearts and minds through Marine Protected Areas

Our marine areas are teeming with life and a variety of protection measures are used to protect the ocean, such as precautionary fishery management principles (bag limits, size limits, catch limits and closed seasons) and shipping and pollution regulations. But at the heart of the protection efforts, are Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), which are demarcated areas to conserve this incredible biodiversity.