Now, scientists continuing her work are gaining a powerful new set of research tools, thanks to a partnership between conservation organizations and universities on two separate continents. The partnership will put the technologies of remote sensing into the hands of field scientists working to protect the gorillas — while helping Rwanda rebuild its national university and recover from a devastating 1994 war and genocide.
It may also serve as a demonstration of how advanced technologies can boost the struggle to protect other endangered species.
"Our first goal is to use modern-day technology to bring new clout to field conservation, ecosystem management and endangered species protection," explains Clare Richardson, president of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, an organization based in Atlanta. "Because we are a field conservation organization, it is imperative that we aggressively pursue more efficient ways to collect data, then have experts available to analyze that data, especially as it applies to habitat."
Assessing Gorilla Habitat
Habitat loss poses the single greatest threat to the mountain gorillas, Richardson says. The most densely populated nation in Africa, Rwanda today struggles with the task of resettling more than a million people in the aftermath of war. The need for more crop land, as well as timber for homes and cooking, threatens the protected reserves and introduces human disease into fragile gorilla habitat.
The first applications of the new technology, therefore, will be to assess existing gorilla habitat, explains Nickolas Faust, principal research scientist at the Georgia Tech Research Institute. Georgia Tech researchers will work with Dr. H. Dieter Steklis, chief scientist for the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International. They will combine geographic information system data from satellites with hyperspectral data gathered by a special aerial camera and demographic information recorded on the ground. That information includes the Fossey Fund's long-term database designed by Dian Fossey more than 30 years ago. This data will give researchers and Rwandan authorities a measure of how many gorillas the area can support, and establish a baseline for documenting future habitat loss.
"The carrying capacity of the area can be assessed by examining the quantity of preferred gorilla food," Steklis explains. "Based on that, we can determine how many gorillas the habitat can sustain. This would provide the park authorities with information that would help them manage the national park."
photo by Gary Meek
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Georgia Tech's involvement with the University of Rwanda included training two of its faculty and staff in GIS and remote sensing techniques. Paul Beatty, center, of the Georgia Tech Center for Geographic Information Systems discusses an image with Dr. Safari Bonfils, left, dean of engineering at the National University, and Ntihemuka Joel, a computer science technician there.
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The technology may also help scientists understand complex environmental interactions that affect the gorillas. For instance, the gorillas seem to prefer certain areas of the forest, yet carefully avoid others. Scientists do not know why, but a more detailed understanding of the terrain, vegetation, water supply and other factors may provide clues.
Slightly more than 600 mountain gorillas survive in Central East Africa, ranging across national parks controlled by three different nations: Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. Security concerns in the border region over the last few years curtailed regular patrols of the gorilla habitat. In spite of this, the gorillas fared well, and the Karisoke trackers and scientists are now back in the Virungas with armed escorts.
These indomitable trackers will soon receive additional training to make use of new technology. Working with researchers, they will break new ground in combining geographic information system (GIS) data with global positioning system (GPS) technology and wireless communications. Ultimately, wireless communications systems tied into the Internet will allow quick transfer of data from field scientists to biologists anywhere in the world.
"The idea of tying GIS, GPS and communications together is a fairly new concept that we hope to explore through this collaboration," Faust explains. "We will be bringing in technology that hasn't traditionally been used in field conservation."
The Fossey Fund's geographic information system and remote sensing program, begun in 1992, got a boost recently from an Idaho company, Earth Search Sciences Inc. (ESSI). As part of a National Geographic television project last year, ESSI gathered hyperspectral data — high-resolution images recorded simultaneously in multiple wavelengths. Turned over to Fossey Fund scientists and the Rwandan government, this information provides rich new detail about vegetation in the area, even allowing scientists to distinguish individual plant species.
Using GIS and other data, Georgia Tech also created a virtual Virungan environment on its Atlanta campus, using a three-screen projector system that allows visitors to immerse themselves in a three-dimensional simulation. By allowing a group of people to share the experience of moving through the ecosystem and examining its components, the Georgia Tech-developed system — known as the Non-Expensive Automatic Virtual Environment (NAVE) — offers a powerful tool for visualizing the potential impacts of change, Faust adds.
The multi-screen, multi-user stereoscopic system was designed to extend applications for virtual environments by dramatically reducing system cost. Developed by Dr. Larry Hodges, Dr. William Ribarsky and others in Georgia Tech's College of Computing, it relies on personal computers rather than costly workstations for rendering scenery.
Help from NASA's Data Resources
The partnership may also get help from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), whose Digital Earth initiative seeks to make the agency's vast data resources, powerful imaging tools and 25 years of expertise available to field scientists. Dr. Timothy W. Foresman, national executive manager for the initiative based at NASA's Office of Earth Science in Washington, views the collaboration between Georgia Tech, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International and the National University of Rwanda as a valuable demonstration project.
photo by Gary Meek
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Geographic Information System (GIS) data is being used to study land use in the fragile habitat that is home to the mountain gorillas. This image shows an inactive volcano that is part of the Virunga Mountain Range.
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"We would like to utilize NASA resources to provide satellite imagery of the research area as a contribution to the project so we can better understand how GPS, remote sensing, GIS and environmental modeling are being used to make decisions in Rwanda," Foresman explains. "We will learn what really works in the field so we can begin to take these global resources and make them relevant to the people who really need them. This is not an ivory tower exercise."
Like Faust, he wants to explore how different technologies can work together — especially now that data can so easily be provided across the global Internet. That could lead to development of a true global clearinghouse for digital data applicable to conservation, planning, resource management and other purposes. By using appropriate low-cost technologies and providing data, tools and consultation at no cost, Digital Earth will make these resources more widely available.
"Digital Earth is becoming a national and international framework for understanding how all these technologies come together, using the world's infrastructure to better understand human involvement with the earth," Foresman says. "All of these things cross borders because you can't do them in isolation.
Foresman says the next step in the NASA collaboration is to define the specific resources the space agency can apply to this project.
Interest Goes Beyond Gorillas
Though the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International focuses on conservation of the gorillas, the well-being of the animals cannot be separated from the well-being of the country in which they live. For that reason, the partnership has taken on broader goals.
"We would also like to take certain elements of these technology applications to the countries in which we work so that we are building scientific and technical infrastructure there," Richardson says. "We want to provide the training and equipment for local universities to learn to collaborate internationally. Ultimately, we want to have centers for GIS and remote sensing dotted all around the globe."
To further that goal, Faust and collaborators at Georgia Tech's Center for Geographic Information Systems — including director Steven French, Paul Beatty and Subramahyam Muthukuman — spent five weeks in February and March teaching two officials from the National University of Rwanda about GIS and remote sensing. Back at their university, the Rwandans will pass on their knowledge to additional faculty and students, using GIS workstations provided by Georgia Tech through the Georgia Research Alliance. Web-based course work designed by the Georgia Tech GIS Center will make such learning possible.
"We will set up the first center for GIS and remote sensing at the university, and our goal will be to train others in this new technology," says Dr. Safari Bonfils, dean of science and engineering at the National University of Rwanda. "The students will use this technology for applications in agriculture, social science and the sciences. This will be very helpful for our country, especially for planners in the government ministries."
A physicist by training, Bonfils sees long-term benefits to the university. "Our departments will use this technology to improve their research and teaching. This will bring current technology to our work."
photo by Gary Meek
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Partners from Georgia Tech and the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International view Rwandan terrain on Georgia Tech's three-screen visualization system.
The system allows viewers to immerse themselves in the scenery, facilitating discussion of land-use issues.
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The university plans to model its GIS center after Georgia Tech's, which serves as a statewide clearinghouse for remote sensing data. Centralizing GIS data and interpretation expertise at the national university will give Rwanda the most benefit from the equipment and investment, Faust notes.
Beyond providing information useful for managing the gorilla habitat and planning for the country's needs, GIS and remote sensing technology could also help the government explore for minerals — and even update the nation's maps.
"With a minimal investment, we think we can do a lot of good for the government of Rwanda, as well as meet the needs for technology in conservation," Faust adds. "We will provide software and systems that will allow them to establish their own capability and provide services to the government."
Repairing the nation's infrastructure and encouraging good land-use planning is important to the gorillas' long-term survival. Before the 1994 genocide, income from ecotourism was important to Rwanda's economy, its second-largest source of outside revenue. If that tourism can be restored, the country will be better able to afford investments in protecting the gorillas.
"The relationship with Georgia Tech will help Rwanda enhance its capability to bring in new investment and develop its resources," Faust says. "The historical focus of the Fossey Fund is on conservation, but the longer-term goal is human and economic development for the entire region of Africa."
The Georgia Tech involvement, made possible by equipment funds from the Georgia Research Alliance, joins with similar efforts being made by other universities. One such project, led by the University of Maryland, will provide distance learning opportunities and help develop communications infrastructure in the country.
Applying the Lessons Learned
The issues faced by mountain gorillas in Rwanda parallel those of other endangered species elsewhere in the world, such as pandas in China and elephants in Zaire.
"Endangered species around the world are endangered because of threats to their habitat," Richardson notes. "The elements are the same for many endangered species. The habitat and vegetation will be different, but the elements of the model remain the same."
To expand the collaboration, the Fossey Fund, Georgia Tech, Clark Atlanta University, the Georgia Research Alliance and Zoo Atlanta expect to form a new Institute for Conservation, Research and Technology. This organization will provide information to other field scientists, and make technology available to other governments.
"If we can become an international clearinghouse for this data through expanded partnerships with the private, public and government sectors, then field scientists will be able to contact the Institute to obtain the remote sensing and spatial analysis information they need," Steklis explains. "This would allow field scientists to obtain the information they need at a minimal cost, and have the expertise available to interpret it."
The Georgia Research Alliance (GRA), a public-private organization that makes strategic economic development investments in Georgia's research universities, views the mountain gorilla project as a way to further Georgia Tech's application of sustainable technology to conservation.
"Our vision for this project is to help position Georgia Tech researchers as world leaders in the use of geographic information systems and other spatial analysis technologies for conservation," says GRA President C. Michael Cassidy. "When coupled with the field experience and expertise of our partners — the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International and Zoo Atlanta — this initiative will become a model for other conservation projects."
The equipment provided by the GRA played a crucial role in securing other investments, a role it has played often in Georgia. Says Richardson: "It was truly the catalyst for getting this program off the ground. We were able to leverage this commitment to involve others."
Zoo Atlanta Offers Learning Environment
Zoo Atlanta's international reputation for conservation and education will play a key role in sharing what the new Institute learns.
"The zoo is the major vehicle for public education," Richardson says. "Zoo Atlanta is not only a field research and conservation organization, but it also offers a wonderful education program that reaches a broad population that needs to hear the message of conservation."
Plans call for GIS and spatial analysis technology to be part of Zoo Atlanta's new Willie B. Conservation Center. There, through immersion environments like those at Georgia Tech, visitors will be able to experience what researchers see in the Virunga Mountains.
A Unique Opportunity for Georgia Tech
Beyond the research and potential collaborations, the partnership offers Georgia Tech researchers and students a unique opportunity, and it furthers the institution's goal of applying its technology to environmental concerns worldwide.
"This is a major step for Georgia Tech to become more involved with international environmental applications," says Dr. Charles Liotta, Georgia Tech's vice-provost for research and dean of graduate studies. "This fits in well with the Georgia Tech's 'green engineering' initiative, and is a perfect test case with high visibility."
The project also offers broad-based potential applications for Georgia Tech's expertise in computing, planning, and environmental and civil engineering, he notes. In addition, it will make the most of the institution's existing collaborations and close ties to Zoo Atlanta.
Georgia Tech and the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International will pursue funding for the new Institute from national, local and international funding agencies, the private sector and foundations, Liotta says.
For Georgia Tech students, the gorilla project offers an opportunity to study in a laboratory unlike any other. Adds Faust: "This is an experimental laboratory in the real world. The applications for this are really boundless."
For more information, contact Nickolas Faust, Electro-Optics Environment & Materials Laboratory, Georgia Tech Research Institute, Atlanta, GA 30332-0841. (Telephone: 404-894-0021) (E-mail:
nick.faust@gtri.gatech.edu).
For information on NASA's program, you may visit www.digitalearth.gov.
