• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Monday, October 27, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News

New research lifts the clouds on land clearing and biodiversity loss

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
June 30, 2021
in Science News
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
IMAGE
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

IMAGE

Credit: Tim Macuga, QUT

QUT researchers have developed a new machine learning mathematical system that helps to identify and detect changes in biodiversity, including land clearing, when satellite imagery is obstructed by clouds.

Using statistical methods to quantify uncertainty, the research, published in Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation, analysed available satellite images of an 180km square area in central south-east Queensland.

The region is home to many native species including the critically endangered northern hairy-nosed wombat and the vulnerable greater glider, and the area mainly consists of forest, pasture, and agricultural land.

Dr Jacinta Holloway-Brown says measuring changes in forest cover over time is essential to track and preserve habitats and is a key sustainable development goal by the United Nations and World Bank to manage forests sustainably.

“Satellite imagery is important as it is too difficult and expensive to frequently collect field data over large, forested areas,” Dr Holloway-Brown said.

“The problem with using satellite imagery is large portions of the earth are obscured by clouds and this cloud cover causes large and frequent amounts of missing data.”

Dr Holloway-Brown said it was estimated based on 12 years of satellite imagery on average approximately 67 per cent of the earth is obscured by cloud cover.

“Using our method, we can compare pixel by pixel what type of land cover there is and if it has changed since the last image. For example, if the pixel was forest in the last image and in the next a week or so later it has changed to soil or a tree stump, we are able to detect that,” she said.

The research involved calculating two simulated types of clearing events, clear felling which involves removing all trees from the area and burning to prepare for future growth and, secondly, tree thinning which involves only removing trees from the area, leaving smaller shrubs, grassland, and pasture behind.

By simulating clouds, the researchers, which includes QUT’s Distinguished Professor Kerrie Mengersen and Dr Kate Helmstedt, could “test the limits” of the method and know how well or not it could predict what was underneath the clouds.

The results showed the method accurately detected simulated land cover change under both clear felling and tree thinning.

“We get the most up to date predictions of missing data due to clouds by training our machine learning method at the edges of those clouds and predicting the missing areas,” she said.

Dr Holloway-Brown is due to present the research to the United Nations Task Team on Earth Observation Data.

“There are real possibilities to use our method to make a real difference to forest monitoring,” she said.

###

The researchers are part of the QUT-based Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Mathematical and Statistical Frontiers.

Media Contact
[email protected]
[email protected]

Original Source

https://cms.qut.edu.au/corpsite/news?id=177568

Related Journal Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/rse2.221

Tags: AgricultureAlgorithms/ModelsClimate ChangeClimate ScienceEarth ScienceEcology/EnvironmentForestryMathematics/StatisticsTechnology/Engineering/Computer Science
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

Dipeptide’s Impact on Ionic Liquid Micellization Explored

Dipeptide’s Impact on Ionic Liquid Micellization Explored

October 27, 2025
Fluid Strategies in Preterm Infants with PDA

Fluid Strategies in Preterm Infants with PDA

October 27, 2025

Unlocking Henna’s Healing Power: A Breakthrough Chemical from Lawsonia inermis Fights Fibrosis

October 27, 2025

ACHO: Enhancing Treatment Adherence through Digital Care

October 27, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • Sperm MicroRNAs: Crucial Mediators of Paternal Exercise Capacity Transmission

    1285 shares
    Share 513 Tweet 321
  • Stinkbug Leg Organ Hosts Symbiotic Fungi That Protect Eggs from Parasitic Wasps

    310 shares
    Share 124 Tweet 78
  • ESMO 2025: mRNA COVID Vaccines Enhance Efficacy of Cancer Immunotherapy

    196 shares
    Share 78 Tweet 49
  • New Study Suggests ALS and MS May Stem from Common Environmental Factor

    134 shares
    Share 54 Tweet 34

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Dipeptide’s Impact on Ionic Liquid Micellization Explored

Fluid Strategies in Preterm Infants with PDA

Unlocking Henna’s Healing Power: A Breakthrough Chemical from Lawsonia inermis Fights Fibrosis

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 67 other subscribers
  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.