NASA Biological Diversity & Ecological Conservation

NASA Biological Diversity & Ecological Conservation is sponsored by NASA. NASA's program supports research on biological diversity and ecological conservation, including studies in Africa on climate change effects.

# Biological Diversity & Ecological Conservation The NASA Biological Diversity and Ecological Conservation programs support basic and applied research as part of NASA's Earth Science Division.

* NASA Earth Data Helps Giant Tortoises Return Home * Informing Sustainable Cashmere Farming in Mongolia * Combating Coral Disease Risk in the Pacific * Protecting Animal Migration Pathways Around the Globe * Detecting Sargassum Algae from Space ### Job Opportunities in Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems Current State of Knowledge and Considerations for the Next Decade The NASA Biological Diversity and Ecological Conservation program elements have released a detailed report on the value of remote sensing for understanding, monitoring, and forecasting biodiversity and supporting decision making.

Developed by a working group of experts, the report demonstrates the value of remote sensing for biodiversity, explores new ideas, and identifies potential program opportunities for the next decade.

**MODIS to VIIRS Transition Webinar, Now Available** – The Applied Earth Observation Partnership (AEOIP) hosted a webinar on the transition from MODIS to VIIRS, bringing together 110 participants from NASA, the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Geological Survey and other land management partners.

(posted 2026-04-14)**Introduction to Thermal Remote Sensing and Applications in Urban Heat Island Mapping** – NASA's Applied Remote Sensing Training Program (ARSET) has opened a new open, online webinar series: Introduction to Thermal Remote Sensing and Applications in Urban Heat Island Mapping.

(posted 2026-04-14)**Opportunity to Use NASA's Data at Work Badge** – NASA has launched the NASA Data at Work program, an Agency-wide initiative that allows eligible organizations to request use of an official attribution badge (NASA Data at Work) to acknowledge that their tools, platforms, products, or services are powered in part by NASA data.

(posted 2026-04-14)**The Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Office (CCEO) has been renamed the Biosphere Implementation Office (BIO)** – to reflect its responsibility to support the Biosphere science research sphere of NASA's Earth System Science Research Program (ESSRP).

Dr. Libby Larson will be taking the lead as the Director of the Biosphere Implementation Office which supports the ESSRP Biosphere science sphere through information dissemination, science leadership coordination, and cross-program engagement. (posted 2026-01-20)**Check out the new Ecological Conservation Decision Support Tools Webinar Series! ** – First Webinar recording and Q&A transcript available here.

(posted 2025-07-30)**ROSES-2025 Has Been Released! ** – Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Science (ROSES)-2025 is an omnibus NASA Research Announcement. It contains ~35 different proposal opportunities.

(posted 2025-07-10)**Thank you for a successful 2025 BDEC Team Meeting! ** – Presentations are available on the agenda. (posted 2025-06-11) **The Explorers Club 50 (EC50) has named Dr. Lola Fatoyinbo, Dr. Martin Luther King Visiting Scholar at the Space Enabled Group in the MIT Media Lab, as a 2026 Honoree.

**EC50 recognizes visionary innovators who are creating solutions, pushing boundaries and igniting change. Dr. Fatoyinbo earned this distinction for her pioneering work using remote sensing technology to monitor and protect mangrove ecosystems from space.

She currently leads a research project for the Ecological Conservation program, supporting management, restoration, and establishment of protected areas in West and Central Africa, which is a region critical to the global carbon cycle and mangrove conservation. She also serves as Co-Investigator on a project developing a natural resources portal to inform the Yurok Tribe's resource management decisions in California.

Please join us in congratulating Lola on her achievement! _2026-01-27_ **The Optical Oceanography Lab wins 2024 William T. Pecora Award** _2024-12-11_ **Tourist Photos From Antarctica May Help Map Penguin Colonies** _2024-11-01_ New MRRMaid RShiny Application Dr. Nick Kolarik is a postdoctoral researcher at Boise State University with Dr. Jodi Brandt.

He is interested in using geospatial data to quantify the impact of conservation initiatives and ecosystem restoration. “Our project has developed an earth observation-based system for monitoring mesic ecosystems in semi-arid regions, the Mesic Restoration Monitoring aid Toolbox (MRRMaid). The purpose of the MRRMaid is to provide science-based guidance for beaver rewilding, for which we rely on remotely sensed datasets.

With this tool, we demonstrate a range of time series analysis techniques for quantifying change in time series of observations at river restoration sites and highlight uses for each. We have collated the methods described in our new paper, ‘Time series analysis to demonstrate restoration outcomes and system change from satellite data’ (10. 1111/rec.

70184), into a RShiny application where end-users can apply methods using a graphical user interface to downloaded data from the Monthly MRRMaid GEE application. ” Access RShiny Application[](https://cce. nasa.

gov/biodiversity/index. html# "Contact and participation information.") The NASA Biological Diversity program is part of the NASA Earth Science Division Research & Analysis program, within the Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Focus Area.

The Biological Diversity program supports basic research that advances the understanding of how and why biological diversity is changing.... * Biological Diversity Research Program * Ecological Conservation Applications Program * Solicitations of Interest * NASA Official: Woody Turner * Last Updated: June, 2026 National Aeronautics and Space Administration Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Website