In countries like Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador with vast areas of poorly known forest, poor economic resources for taxonomic inventory or conservation, and rapid land development of forest areas, the prioritization of land for inventory and conservation needs to be efficient and rapid. These countries have a commitment to the CBD for inventory and conservation and this commitment cannot be met without novel techniques for rapid science-based prioritization. My work originates from the fusion of botanical approaches to field assessment of species richness and conservation priority from my training as a taxonomist in Colombia with the more environmental/geographic techniques that I have learned during my training in UK. It could be a new technique for plant science, “identification from the air.

This research will path the way for aerial photography and the new generation of high resolution satellite sensors to be used for the spatial characterization of forests and the targeting of field inventory missions and conservation efforts on those areas which show signs of local endemism or high species richness. This guarantees a focused application of scarce conservation funds on the areas, which are most important biologically – a regional ‘hotspots’-type approach in other words.

The application will use multi scale imagery over tropical forests and apply techniques for tree species identification for key groups that I have developed and which are based on crown texture, colours, size and form.