Development of forty-nine novel earth observation variables (NEOVs) for improving species distribution models in the Himalaya

Solid understanding of the critical factors driving Himalayan mountain species' distributions and their explicit mapping is especially crucial in the context of global environmental change. Species Distribution Modeling (SDM) could help conservationists and policymakers develop effective measures to limit the associated risk, and climate-only SDMs cannot adequately serve this purpose. In this scenario, the development of novel ecologically relevant predictor variables and exploring innovative methods to accurately map species distributions are of paramount importance in the Himalaya. In order to strengthen models of species distribution in the Himalaya, 49 novel earth observation variables (NEOVs) have been developed. Of these, 15 phenological variables and 34 biophysical variables were developed from NASA's MODIS datasets and phenological modeling techniques. The novelty of NEOVs lies in their capability to provide information on the fundamental processes driving ecosystem function. These 49 NEOVs will act as a state-of-the-art repository for species distribution modelers as well as policymakers.

NEOVs were developed at the Remote Sensing Laboratory, Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, India, as part of the National Mission on Himalayan Studies (NMHS) funded by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Government of India.

The original source of publication and metadata information of this dataset can be found at

Citations (Mandatory)

Satish, K.V., Dugesar, V., Pandey, M.K., Srivastava, P.K., Pharswan, D.S., and Wani, Z.A (2023). Seeing from space makes sense: Novel earth observation variables accurately map species distributions over Himalaya. Journal of Environmental Management 325 (Part A), 116428.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.116428 

Satish, K.V., Dugesar, V., Pandey, M.K., Srivastava, P.K., Pharswan, D.S., and Wani, Z.A (2022). Development of forty-nine novel earth observation variables (NEOVs) for improving species distribution models in the Himalaya. figshare. Dataset. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.20049125 

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