SBIR Phase I: Effect of Human Population on Land Use and Species Viability: Methodology and Software

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This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to develop methods and software that can be used to evaluate or explore the impact of human population and land-use changes on species viability. Changes in human population and land use affect the viability of native species through habitat loss to agriculture, urban sprawl, and industrial development; habitat fragmentation; decreased habitat quality; and increased direct harvest of species. Existing RAMAS software for modeling the effect of changes in the quality and amount of habitat on the viability of species will be modified to allow the incorporation of the human element into this methodology. It will lead to software that will be used to forecast the changes in the human population, and the effect of these changes on the land-use and resource-use patterns. These results will be used to predict the changes in the habitat of native species, and to assess species viability and persistence. The commercial application of this project will be a specialized software product, the market for which would include federal, state and local planning agencies, international development organizations, academic institutions and non-profit research organizations.