IT HAS TAKEN OVER 20 YEARS TO GET THREE-DIMENSIONAL ECOSYSTEM STRUCTURE MEASUREMENT CAPABILITIES ESTABLISHED VIA SYSTEMATIC LIDAR MEASUREMENTS FROM SPACE. THE GLOBAL ECOSYSTEMS DYNAMICS INVESTIGATION (GEDI) IS THE CULMINATION OF THAT OBJECTIVE BUILDING ON TECHNOLOGY ADVANCES ARISING FROM PREVIOUSLY PLANNED SPACE-BASED LIDAR MISSIONS THAT NEVER MADE IT TO ORBIT I.E. THE VEGETATION CANOPY LIDAR (VCL) AND THE DEFORMATION ECOSYSTEM STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS OF ICE (DESDYNI LIDAR). DESDYNI WAS CALLED FOR IN THE 2007 DECADAL SURVEY ON EARTH SCIENCE AND APPLICATIONS FROM SPACE (ESAS) YET NEVER CAME TO FRUITION IN TERMS OF THE ECOSYSTEM STRUCTURE COMPONENT UNTIL GEDI LIDAR WHICH NOW PROVIDES THAT CAPABILITY. THE INSTRUMENT HAS BEEN OPERATING NEARLY FLAWLESSLY FOR JUST OVER A YEAR NOW (AS OF ITS COMMISSIONING IN LATE MARCH 2019) AND SEVERAL MONTHS OF LEVEL-1B AND -2A B DATA SETS ARE NOW WIDELY AVAILABLE TO THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY VIA THE ORNL DAAC WITH MONTHLY UPDATES. PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR GOETZ HAS BEEN INVOLVED WITH GEDI DEVELOPMENT AS A CO-PI OF TWO NASA EARTH VENTURE PROPOSALS THE SECOND OF WHICH SUPPORTED GEDI LIDAR AS AN INSTRUMENT MISSION I.E. WITH FUNDING FOR THE INSTRUMENT ITSELF AS WELL AS ALGORITHM AND DATA PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT BUT WITH SCIENCE APPLICATIONS BEING LARGELY EXPLORATORY AND DEMONSTRATIVE. OUR APPLICATION TO THIS NASA RESEARCH OPPORTUNITY IS TO CONTINUE AS PART OF THE GEDI SCIENCE TEAM FOR WHICH GOETZ HAS ACTED AS DEPUTY PI FOR SCIENCE AND CO-IS BURNS AND JANTZ HAVE BEEN ACTIVE ST MEMBERS. OUR CURRENT SUPPORT FOR THE GEDI ST WILL EXPIRE ON OR BEFORE 24 SEPTEMBER 2021 THUS IF WE ARE SELECTED TO CONTINUE OUR SUPPORT WOULD OVERLAP FOR A MAXIMUM PERIOD OF LESS THAN 8 MONTHS. OUR ROLES THUS FAR HAVE INCLUDED BUT NOT BEEN LIMITED TO ASSESSING THE POTENTIAL OF GEDI FOR BIODIVERSITY HABITAT CHARACTERIZATION USING SIMULATED GEDI DATA. NOW THAT WE HAVE ACTUAL GEDI DATA OVER A VAST GEOGRAPHICAL AREA WE PROPOSE TO RAPIDLY ADVANCE THE APPLICATION OF GEDI CANOPY STRUCTURE MEASUREMENTS FOR 3D HABITAT CHARACTERIZATION AND ASSESS RELATIONSHIPS WITH IN SITU OBSERVATIONS OF BOTH PLANT AND ANIMAL SPECIES RICHNESS AS WELL AS MAPPING ANIMAL HABITAT UTILIZATION AND SUITABLE HABITAT DISTRIBUTIONS (I.E. CURRENT AND POTENTIAL RANGE EXTENTS). WE WILL LEVERAGE OUR EXPERIENCE WITH LIDAR CHARACTERIZATION OF FOREST STRUCTURE AND LIDAR SYNERGY WITH IMAGING REMOTE SENSING DATA (BOTH OPTICAL AND SAR) AS WELL AS RICH BIODIVERSITY DATA SETS FROM A RANGE OF SOURCES INCLUDING THE GLOBAL BIODIVERSITY INFORMATION FACILITY (GBIF) A NETWORK OF CAMERA TRAP DATA OF ANIMAL SPECIES OCCURRENCES COMPILED BY CO-IS KASZTA AND CUSHMAN AND OTHER PUBLIC SOURCES OF BIODIVERSITY OBSERVATIONS THAT ARE NOT CURRENTLY PART OF GBIF. THESE ASSESSMENTS AND DERIVED MAPS WILL LEAD TO SUBSTANTIALLY REFINED SPECIES RANGE MAPS THAT HAVE PRACTICAL VALUE FOR INFORMING CONSERVATION EFFORTS INCLUDING E.G. REFINING SPECIES ENDANGERMENT ESTIMATES AND IDENTIFYING SUITABLE HABITAT CORRIDORS TO CONNECT CORE HABITAT AREAS.