NASA assists search for woodpecker thought to ...( assess the complex vegetation structur...)

"We're trying to understand the environment where these birds live or used to live, using LVIS-plotted features like thickness of the ground vegetation and tree-leaf density, in combination with other factors like closeness to water and age of the forest, to determine where we might find them," said Turner.

"Through numerous studies, we have shown the effectiveness of the data generated by this sensor for many scientific uses, including carbon removal, fire prediction, and habitat identification," said LVIS project researcher Ralph Dubayah, a professor in the University of Maryland's Department of Geography. "Lidar technology like LVIS measures the vertical structure of the trees and ground, setting it apart from other remote-sensing systems that provide detailed horizontal information that tells us little about whether a green patch of forest is short or tall, for example. When identifying habitats, the vertical structure of the vegetation is of paramount importance to many species, including a bird like the ivory-bill."

The reported sighting of the ivory-billed woodpecker inspired a year-long search by more than 50 experts working together as part of the Big Woods Conservation Partnership, led by the Cornell University's Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and the Nature Conservancy. Researchers have followed reported sightings across a huge swath of the southeastern United States, including the Gulf Coast, Alabama, and Florida.

In April 2005, that team published a report in the journal Science that at least one male ivory-bill still survived. However, some scientists have challenged whether it really was the ivory-billed woodpecker that was spotted. The NASA-University of Maryland project is designed to provide de
'"/>

Contact: Rob Gutro
robert.J.gutro@nasa.gov
301-286-4044
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
3-Aug-2006