Ten ways remote sensing can contribute to conservation

Abstract

In an effort to increase conservation effectiveness through the use of Earth observation technologies, a group of remote sensing scientists affiliated with government and academic institutions and conservation organizations identified 10 questions in conservation for which the potential to be answered would be greatly increased by use of remotely sensed data and analyses of those data. Our goals were to increase conservation practitioners' use of remote sensing to support their work, increase collaboration between the conservation science and remote sensing communities, identify and develop new and innovative uses of remote sensing for advancing conservation science, provide guidance to space agencies on how future satellite missions can support conservation science, and generate support from the public and private sector in the use of remote sensing data to address the 10 conservation questions. We identified a broad initial list of questions on the basis of an email chain-referral survey. We then used a workshop-based iterative and collaborative approach to whittle the list down to these final questions (which represent 10 major themes in conservation): How can global Earth observation data be used to model species distributions and abundances? How can remote sensing improve the understanding of animal movements? How can remotely sensed ecosystem variables be used to understand, monitor, and predict ecosystem response and resilience to multiple stressors? How can remote sensing be used to monitor the effects of climate on ecosystems? How can near real-time ecosystem monitoring catalyze threat reduction, governance and regulation compliance, and resource management decisions? How can remote sensing inform configuration of protected area networks at spatial extents relevant to populations of target species and ecosystem services? How can remote sensing-derived products be used to value and monitor changes in ecosystem services? How can remote sensing be used to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of conservation efforts? How does the expansion and intensification of agriculture and aquaculture alter ecosystems and the services they provide? How can remote sensing be used to determine the degree to which ecosystems are being disturbed or degraded and the effects of these changes on species and ecosystem functions?

Mapping and Assessment of PM10 and O3 Removal by Woody Vegetation at Urban and Regional Level

“…Mapping and assessment of Ecosystem Services (ES) is very important for supporting stakeholders with management practices focused on increasing the provision of goods and services ecosystems can supply [1,2], harmonizing the processes of urban and regional sprawl, and land use change [3][4][5] with maximum service delivery. The spatial representation of ES is a pillar of the "EU biodiversity strategy" that, through Action 5, promotes mapping and assessment of the state of ecosystems and their services in Member States, in order to achieve an accounting and reporting system at the EU and national levels by 2020 [6].…”

Airborne Hyperspectral Data Predict Fine-Scale Plant Species Diversity in Grazed Dry Grasslands

“…Species diversity indices, such as SR and iSDI, are usually estimated on the basis of standardized field sampling or ground surveys, and the fact that detailed field inventories are time-consuming may limit the spatial extent of diversity surveys. Remote sensing techniques have the potential to play a valuable supporting role in the mapping of plant species diversity, and in the identification of habitat patches that may be of conservation interest [14] if, for example, spectral data correlate with species diversity or with vegetation properties that are associated with species diversity (cf. [15]).…”

Conservation impacts of a near real‐time forest monitoring and alert system for the tropics

“…Operational near real-time (NRT) monitoring and alert systems utilizing remotely sensed data to detect forest threats from fire, road development, logging and agriculture provide a tremendous opportunity to help manage and protect natural resources (Rose et al 2015;Pratihast et al 2016). NRT forest monitoring involves repeated or ongoing tracking of forest threats or disturbances with a minimum time-lag between the observation, analysis and distribution of information on threats or disturbances detected (Hansen et al 2016).…”