Model-Assisted Bird Monitoring Based on Remotely Sensed Ecosystem Functioning and Atlas Data

Adrián Regos,Pablo Gómez-Rodríguez,Luis Tapia,Jesús Domínguez,María Vidal,Salvador Arenas-Castro

doi:10.3390/rs12162549

Abstract

Urgent action needs to be taken to halt global biodiversity crisis. To be effective in the implementation of such action, managers and policy-makers need updated information on the status and trends of biodiversity. Here, we test the ability of remotely sensed ecosystem functioning attributes (EFAs) to predict the distribution of 73 bird species with different life-history traits. We run ensemble species distribution models (SDMs) trained with bird atlas data and 12 EFAs describing different dimensions of carbon cycle and surface energy balance. Our ensemble SDMs—exclusively based on EFAs—hold a high predictive capacity across 71 target species (up to 0.94 and 0.79 of Area Under the ROC curve and true skill statistic (TSS)). Our results showed the life-history traits did not significantly affect SDM performance. Overall, minimum Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) and maximum Albedo values (descriptors of primary productivity and energy balance) were the most important predictors across our bird community. Our approach leverages the existing atlas data and provides an alternative method to monitor inter-annual bird habitat dynamics from space in the absence of long-term biodiversity monitoring schemes. This study illustrates the great potential that satellite remote sensing can contribute to the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and to the Essential Biodiversity Variables framework (EBV class “Species distribution”).

Highlights

Urgent action needs to be taken to achieve the Aichi Biodiversity Targets of the Convention on Biological Diversity and halt the global biodiversity crisis [1]
Our results showed that bird traits did not significantly affect species distribution models (SDMs) performance, even though the distribution was slightly better predicted for migratory and Mediterranean birds nesting in rocky areas, with carnivorous diets and vulnerable IUCN status (Figure 3)
This might be explained by the inclusion of ecosystem functioning attributes (EFAs) related to carbon cycle and other attributes related to heat dynamics and energy balance

Summary

Introduction

Urgent action needs to be taken to achieve the Aichi Biodiversity Targets of the Convention on Biological Diversity and halt the global biodiversity crisis [1]. The tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties calls upon countries to implement the 2011–2020 Strategic Plan for Biodiversity, including the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, with attention given to the monitoring and review of national biodiversity strategies and action plans implementation in accordance with the Strategic Plan and national targets, making use of the set of indicators developed for the Strategic Plan as a flexible framework. To be effective in the implementation of the national biodiversity strategies and action plans, managers and policy-makers need to be supported by updated information on the status and trends of biodiversity. In this context, the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON) has introduced the framework of Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) [2]. In the EBV framework, “Species Distribution” has been proposed as an EBV candidate within the EBV class “Species Populations” [4]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion