A stark future awaits if we fail to act on climate change. (Credit: Wikimedia, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license)

Why is a video infographic helpful?

It can be hard to visualize global temperature changes. For example, a simple line graph shows a single number changing over time. It doesn’t show the complex data comprising changes in the range of temperatures across the planet over time.

Who can use this video infographic of global warming?

Scientists, educators, teachers and students can benefit from a better way to communicate global temperature change. This video infographic accomplishes that. It shows temperature anomalies arranged by country from 1900 to 2016. The visualization based on GISTEMP data, maintained by NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. The video is available for download free-of-charge on Flickr (see below for download link).

How can I use this video infographic?

The video infographic is ideal to illustrate the increasing urgency of climate change. You can clearly see that over time, temperature anomaly frequency is increasing. No special data interpretation skills are needed. Since it is available as a download, it can be used offline. Therefore, presenters could include this in a digital slide presentation, for example. An educator could show the video to students and use it as a way to engage students in a discussion about global warming. It’s also a good opportunity to talk to students about the importance of data visualization. Edward Tufte’s book, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, is an excellent primer on this topic.

A picture is worth a thousand words, it is said. Well, good data visualization can convey complex ideas more readily than words. With that in mind, I encourage you to make use of this resource and share widely with colleagues and fellow Biodiversity Professionals.

CREDIT AND DOWNLOAD LINK
Antti Lipponen: Temperature anomalies arranged by country 1900 – 2016.
DOWNLOAD (13.1 MB MP4 file)

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The video covers a range of issues relevant to biodiversity issues, beginning with global biodiversity challenges such as climate change and biofuels. In particular, Kathy Willis considers knowledge gaps for mapping biodiversity in the context of ecosystem services given the reality of resource extraction.

The presenters discuss how Earth’s biodiversity is undergoing dramatic change, with species disappearing at an unprecedented rate. Various factors are causing habitat destruction as demand for biofuels and other resources is fueled by growing populations and increasing prosperity.

The video covers how new technologies are allowing researchers to map and monitor ecologically important habitat. In particular the video shows how data from satellites and other technology is helping organizations and corporations to minimize impacts of industrial activities. Researchers also aim to use social technologies such as smartphone apps and crowd sourcing to encourage public participation in biodiversity conservation.

The video was live-streamed February 20, 2014. Speakers include:

• Professor Kathy Willis, Co-Director, Oxford Martin Programme on Resource Stewardship and Director of Science, Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew
• Dr Peter Long, James Martin Fellow, Biodiversity Institute, Oxford Martin School (Biodiversity Professionals Member)
• Dr Timos Papadopoulos, James Martin Fellow, Biodiversity Institute, Oxford Martin School

The post Using technology to identify and map biodiversity [VIDEO] appeared first on Biodiversity Professionals.