Monitoring Biodiversity Using Remote Sensing and Field Surveys

Abstract

This chapter concludes that, in combination with additional environmental data sets, it is now possible to model quantitatively the spatial extent of widespread habitats and landscapes on the basis of land cover information derived from satellite imagery. Although it is now possible to model the spatial extent of widespread European habitats, these patterns cannot be directly translated into area estimates. The retrieval of accurate land cover information is not only crucial for the spatial modelling of European landscapes and habitats, but also for their monitoring. Operational remote sensing enables land cover characterization at various scales but the classification accuracies are still insufficient at continental and global scales for monitoring purposes. Instead, the use of continuous thematic fraction layers, as derived from linear unmixing, provides a good basis for monitoring land cover changes of Europe’s complex landscapes. However, gradual and small changes in habitats and their quality are not easily detected from space by satellite imagery, and therefore, additional information from field surveys is needed. Protocols for rapid field surveying of habitats have been developed that can provide a European baseline based on a sampling design across European landscapes. The information from the field samples (e.g. square kilometres) can be used for the validation and calibration of the obtained distribution maps of European habitats. The field surveying method is amongst others based on the estimation of the main plant life forms, which are highly correlated with vegetation structure. The latter has been shown to have a good relationship with satellite imagery. Field surveys are always limited to relatively small areas in Europe, and therefore, the spatial modelling of habitats and landscapes with the help of remotely sensed information remains important for providing a synoptic overview.