Oral Presentation Institute of Australian Geographers & The New Zealand Geographical Society Conference 2014

Using GIS to model an ecosystem in Antarctica (12559)

Lars Brabyn 1 , Glen Stichbury 1 , Allan T G Green 1 , Craig Cary 1 , Charlie Lee 1
  1. University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

The Antarctic Dry Valleys have relatively simple ecology because the cold, dry, desert conditions limit biological activity. Despite this, the modelling of biology in this region is complex because of the interactions between tropic levels and environmental drivers of biology. This research attempts to spatially model the complete bio-complexity of the Dry Valleys ecosystem. Integral to this is the use of GIS for characterising the landscape environment, such as temperature, wetness, and terrain variables. This research shows an example of how GIS and remote sensing can be integrated with theoretical and statistical models to produce a predictive spatial model of biodiversity, which includes mapping bacteria, soil microbes, algae, lichens and moss.