(opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a><\/em>. That work, he notes, \u201cused computational techniques to combine data sets on species distributions and protected areas to determine which areas were critical for protecting the most species in the least amount of area.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nThat is just the latest natural step in the research direction Joppa has been following for quite some time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy research repeatedly shows that strategically focusing on protecting and preserving specific places can have an outsized impact on overall conservation efforts,\u201d he says. \u201cFor example, we know that many protected areas are located in regions that are what I like to call \u2018high and far\u2019\u2014that is, at the tops of mountains and far from human development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe problem with that is that conservation efforts in those places are, in a sense, wasted. We need to start concentrating on protecting spaces of disproportionate importance, from a biodiversity perspective, that are also under extreme threats. My work on the subject, along with many others\u2019, has focused on trying to hammer this point home, while providing the quantitative analysis to back up my claims.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One way of doing so is to make state-of-the-art data collection inexpensive, simple to use, and widely available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOf course,\u201d Joppa observes, \u201cthose goals aren\u2019t unique to the conservation community. I see a nice fit between those sorts of projects and the more \u2018traditional\u2019 aspects of ubiquitous computing under way at Microsoft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI like to say that we are working on \u2018ubiquitous computing of the environment\u2019!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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