Investigating Biodiversity Intactness in the Phoenix metropolitan area

Image credits: Global 100m Projections of Biodiversity Intactness for the years 2017-2020 Technical Whitepaper

Context & Purpose

In 2021, Maricopa County, which encompasses the Phoenix metropolitan area, was the US county that added the most developed land since 2001 1. Urban sprawl creates pressure on biodiversity and natural areas.

This repository contains a Python notebook with data exploration and analysis into the change in Biodiversity Intactness in the Phoenix metropolitan area in 2017 and 2020. I explore a dataset showing values for biodiversity intactness index (BII) 2, 3 to find changes in this BII around the Phoenix area from 2017 to 2020.

Repository Structure

├── LICENSE
├── README.md
├── biodiversity_index_phoenix.ipynb  # primary analysis notebook
├── data
│   ├── tl_2022_04_cousub.cpg
│   ├── tl_2022_04_cousub.dbf
│   ├── tl_2022_04_cousub.prj
│   ├── tl_2022_04_cousub.shp
│   ├── tl_2022_04_cousub.shp.ea.iso.xml
│   ├── tl_2022_04_cousub.shp.iso.xml
│   └── tl_2022_04_cousub.shx
└── figures
    ├── bii_phoenix_final.png
    └── phoenix_county.png

Data Citation

• BII data:io-biodiversity collection, from the Microsoft Planetary Computer's STAC catalog. This dataset was generated by Impact Observatory, in collaboration with Vizzuality. It contains terrestrial biodiversity intactness data at 100m resolution.

Microsoft Planetary Computer, STAC Catalog. Biodiversity Intactness ('io-biodiversity'). [Dataset]. https://planetarycomputer.microsoft.com/dataset/io-biodiversity Accessed 6 December 2023.

• United States Census Bureau, County Subdivision shapefiles for Arizona. County subdivision level census data from 2022.

United States Census Bureau. (2022). Arizona County Subdivision 2022 TIGER/Line Shapefiles. [Data File]. U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division. https://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/geo/shapefiles/index.php?year=2022&layergroup=County+Subdivisions Accessed 6 December 2023.

References

1. Levitt, Z., & Eng, J. (2021, August 11). Where America’s developed areas are growing: 'Way off into the horizon’. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/interactive/2021/land-development-urban-growth-maps/
2. Mazzarello, J., &amp Hyde, S. (2022, August). Global 100m Projections of Biodiversity Intactness for the years 2017-2020. [Technical White Paper]. Impact Observatory, Vizzuality.
3. Microsoft Planetary Computer, STAC Catalog. Biodiversity Intactness ('io-biodiversity'). [Dataset]. https://planetarycomputer.microsoft.com/dataset/io-biodiversity Accessed 6 December 2023.