Vertica System Aims to Save Species

The big data technology trend is set to make an impact in the battle for the preservation of endangered species, as HP this week announced it’s teamed up with Conservation International to develop what they say is an early warning system for threatened species.

The collaboration was revealed this week during the HP Discover Conference in Barcelona, Spain, where the company said that they’re using a host of data collection techniques in conjunction with their Vertica analytics platform to create a system that creates actionable insights. The new system is built using an array of cameras and sensors in 16 tropical forests around the world that the CI, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Wildlife Conservation Society are monitoring.

Per HP:

HP Earth Insights manages three Terabytes of critical biodiversity information, including more than 1.4 million photos and more than 3 million climate measurements. The project analyzes, with unprecedented speed, the ever-increasing inputs related to species, vegetation, precipitation, temperature, carbon stocks, humidity and more, gathered from camera traps and climate sensors in 16 countries to deliver findings about the environment that previously were unknown.

All of this data is poured into the HP Vertica Analytics Platform, and used as the fuel to power a dashboard that HP calls the “Wildlife Picture Index (WPI) Analytics System,” creating a data powered window into the forest that gives the collaboration the ability for data-driven insights that can be accessed around the world.

“HP Earth Insights is transforming environmental science. Until now, the right data, the technology, and scale have been noticeably missing from our field,” said Peter Seligmann, chairman and chief executive officer, Conservation International in a statement. “What once took a team of scientists weeks, months, or more to analyze can now be done by a single person in hours.”

The application allows HP’s PR team to show off its end-to-end muscles, from ProLiant back end servers storing data, to Vertica analytics, and HP ElitePad tablets in the field. But the show of force is actually impressive, especially when you consider the cause and speed in which the collaboration is able to make these insights. According to HP, the HP Earth Insights collaboration is delivering analytics nine times faster than previous methods, generating actionable information that they are able to share with local politicians and resource managers to develop policies based on the analytics they’re creating.

According to HP, the new system is revealing insights that are giving rise to new concerns. Most recent findings include:

• Of the 275 species being monitored, 60 species—or 22 percent—are either significantly decreasing in population or likely decreasing compared to baseline levels. 
• Findings indicate 33 of the species being monitored—or 12 percent—have significantly decreased in numbers. Among these are: the sun bear and the wild boar found in Malaysia (Pasoh Forest Reserve), the agile mangabey found in the Republic of Congo (Nouabalé Ndoke), and the greater grison found in Ecuador (Yasuni).
• The population of the Western Gorilla, which lives in the Republic of Congo (Nouabalé Ndoke) and is considered a Critically Endangered species, is likely declining—approximately 10 percent from the 2009 baseline—according to new data.
• The following insectivores are likely declining: the moonrat and masked palm civet found in Malaysia (Pasoh Forest Reserve), the banded mongoose, four-toed elephant shrew and checkered elephant shrew found in Tanzania (Udzungwa), the northern tamandua found in Costa Rica (Volcàn Barva) and large tree shrew found in Indonesia (Bukit Barisan).

The application serves as an example of how the big data technology trend is changing the way that businesses and organizations can interact with their environments, be they business environments, or the physical, outdoor environment.

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