Developments in mapping technology offer producers a more precise and bigger picture
of how wildlife habitat adds value to their land. Harry Stelfox, a biologist and habitat classification specialist with 35 years experience
studying this dynamic interaction between species and their habitats, has a word for it:
connectivity. It’s a concept that has been brought into more practical application by
technological advances in the field of habitat mapping and assessment, with the evolution
of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) technology a prominent example.
“This is a field of science that has rapidly grown from one that measured a small set of
basic components to one with almost limitless opportunities to study how wildlife, insects
and micro-organisms, vegetation, water, soil and a number of other factors interact with
each other,” says Stelfox. “In the process, it is offering producers more opportunity than
ever to understand their habitat assets and the long-term contribution they make towards
their farming operations.”