Cofrin Center for Biodiversity

WELCOME !

Welcome to the Cofrin Center for Biodiversity Geographic Information website. The primary purpose of the site is to assist UWGB faculty, students and staff who are interested in applying geospatial technology to the study of biological diversity. The site is also intended to facilitate our frequent collaborations with GIS users across the campus and in the community at-large.

Current Projects

Wabikon Forest Dynamics Plot - The Biodiversity Center is making extensive use of geospatial databases and state-of the-art GIS software in the inventory work under way in the Nicolet National Forest near Crandon, Wisconsin. The data we are acquiring today will serve as the baseline for periodic reassessments so it's important that we utilize robust and universally-compatible data structures. Standardization is particularly important on the Forest Dynamics work because our plot is part of a global network of research sites. Our baseline data will be shared with other researchers in the network and used in comparisons between sites.

Bees In Door County's Orchards - Jay Watson, a graduate student in the Environmental Science and Policy program, is working with the Biodiversity Center to utilize GIS analysis in his thesis project. He's looking at the influence of nearby vegetation cover on the presence of bees in orchards.

Town of Scott Natural Resources - The Town of Scott and the Biodiversity Center have been working on a Natural Resource Protection Plan for the Town. One of the deliverables for the project is a set of geospatial databases whose purpose is to help Brown County government with the natural resource aspects of land-use planning.

Conservation Planning - The identification, preservation and restoration of crucial habitat is an important part of fostering biodiversity. The Biodiversity Center often works with local and regional land protection initiatives on targeting of specific tracts for protection and selecting appropriate protection strategies. In the past, this assistance has generally been in the form of field inventories and consulting. Lately, the Biodiversity Center has also contributed GIS mapping and analysis work to conservation planners including:
   -Baird Creek Preservation Foundation
   -Friends of Toft Point
   -Northeast Wisconsin Land Trust
   -The Ridges Sanctuary
   -Glacial Lakes Conservancy

NEW
A new page has been added to the site describing a method for predicting GPS satellite visibility. go

Biodiversity Topics: Introduction . Plants . Animals . Mammals . Birds . Reptiles & Amphibians . Arthropods . Spiders . Insects

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Geospatial Technology at UWGB

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