Using Google Earth to improve management of threatened limestone karst ecosystems in Peninsular Malaysia

Biodiversity conservation is
now about prioritisation, especially in a world with limited resources and so
many habitats and species in need of protection. However, we cannot prioritise
effectively if historical and current information on a particular habitat or
species remains scattered. Several good platforms have been created to help
users to find, use and create biodiversity information. However, good platforms
for sharing habitat information for threatened ecosystems are still lacking. Limestone
hills are an example of threatened ecosystems that harbour unique biodiversity,
but are facing intensifying anthropogenic disturbances. As limestone is a vital
resource for the construction industry, it is not possible to completely halt forest
degradation and quarrying in developing countries such as Malaysia, where 445
limestone hills have been recorded in the peninsula to date. As such, there is an
urgent need to identify which hills must be prioritised for conservation. To
make decisions based on sound science, collating spatial and biological
information on limestone hills into a publicly accessible database is critical. Here, we compile Malaysia’s first limestone
hill GIS map for 445 limestone hills in the peninsula based on information from
geological reports and scientific literature. To assist in conservation
prioritisation efforts, we quantify characteristics of limestone hills in terms
of size, degree of isolation, and spatial distribution patterns and also assessed
the degree of habitat disturbance of each limestone hill in terms of buffer
area forest degradation and quarrying activity. All this information is stored
in a KMZ file and can be accessed through the Google Earth interface. This product
should not be viewed as a final output containing basic limestone hill
information. Rather, this database is a foundational platform for users to
collect, store, update and manipulate spatial and biological data from
limestone hills to better inform decisions regarding their management.