At our 2024 GCI Postdoc Showcase, Postdoctoral Fellow Gabriela Shirkey presented a poster about how remote sensing satellites can offer a range of important information about plant species. To learn more about her research, reach out to Dr. Shirkey at shirkey@chapman.edu.

ABSTRACT: Species richness, the number of unique species per area, is an important measure of ecosystem health and has proven relationships to ecosystem function. It is difficult to monitor species richness, however, and conventional methods include intensive field sampling. Therefore, we estimate the relationship between species richness and ecosystem function, structure, and traits to develop a first of its kind species richness map. This advances our ability to monitor biodiversity and ecosystem conditions using satellite imagery, rather than rely on ground sampling alone.