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Munteanu C, Kraemer BM, Hansen HH, Miguel S, Milner-Gulland EJ, Nita M, Ogashawara I, Radeloff VC, Roverelli S, Shumilova OO, Storch I, Kuemmerle T. The potential of historical spy-satellite imagery to support research in ecology and conservation. Bioscience 2024; 74:159-168. [PMID: 38560619 PMCID: PMC10977866 DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biae002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2023] [Revised: 11/14/2023] [Accepted: 01/11/2024] [Indexed: 04/04/2024] Open
Abstract
Remote sensing data are important for assessing ecological change, but their value is often restricted by their limited temporal coverage. Major historical events that affected the environment, such as those associated with colonial history, World War II, or the Green Revolution are not captured by modern remote sensing. In the present article, we highlight the potential of globally available black-and-white satellite photographs to expand ecological and conservation assessments back to the 1960s and to illuminate ecological concepts such as shifting baselines, time-lag responses, and legacy effects. This historical satellite photography can be used to monitor ecosystem extent and structure, species' populations and habitats, and human pressures on the environment. Even though the data were declassified decades ago, their use in ecology and conservation remains limited. But recent advances in image processing and analysis can now unlock this research resource. We encourage the use of this opportunity to address important ecological and conservation questions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catalina Munteanu
- Wildlife Ecology and Management, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
- Geography Department at Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Benjamin M Kraemer
- Environmental Hydrological Systems at the University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Henry H Hansen
- Technology Department of Environmental and Life Sciences Biology at Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden
| | - Sofia Miguel
- Departamento de Geología, Geografía, y Medio Ambiente, Environmental Remote Sensing Research Group, Universidad de Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Spain
| | - E J Milner-Gulland
- Department of Biology at the University of Oxford, Oxford, England, United Kingdom
| | - Mihai Nita
- Department of Forest Engineering, in the Faculty of Silviculture and Forest Engineering, Transilvania University of Brasov, Brasov, Romania
| | - Igor Ogashawara
- Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, Germany
| | - Volker C Radeloff
- SILVIS Lab, in the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States
| | - Simone Roverelli
- Wildlife Ecology and Management, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | | | - Ilse Storch
- Wildlife Ecology and Managementm University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Tobias Kuemmerle
- Geography Department and the Integrative Research Institute on Transformations of Human–Environment Systems, Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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Lalechère E, Monnet JM, Breen J, Fuhr M. Assessing the potential of remote sensing-based models to predict old-growth forests on large spatiotemporal scales. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2024; 351:119865. [PMID: 38159307 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.119865] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2023] [Revised: 11/20/2023] [Accepted: 12/13/2023] [Indexed: 01/03/2024]
Abstract
Old-growth forests provide a broad range of ecosystem services. However, due to poor knowledge of their spatiotemporal distribution, implementing conservation and restoration strategies is challenging. The goal of this study is to compare the predictive ability of socioecological factors and different sources of remotely sensed data that determine the spatiotemporal scales at which forest maturity attributes can be predicted. We evaluated various remotely sensed data that cover a broad range of spatial (from local to global) and temporal (from current to decades) extents, from Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS), aerial multispectral and stereo-imagery, Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 and Landsat data. Using random forests, remotely sensed data were related to a forest maturity index available in 688 forest plots across four ranges of the French Alps. Each model also includes socioecological predictors related to topography, socioeconomy, pedology and climatology. We found that the different remotely sensed data provide information on the main forest structural characteristics as defined by ALS, except for Landsat, which has a too coarse resolution, and Sentinel-1, which responds differently to vegetation structure. The predictions were quite similar considering aerial remotely sensed data, on the one hand, and satellite remotely sensed data, on the other hand. Socioecological variables are the most important predictors compared to the remote sensing metrics. In conclusion, our results indicate that a wide range of remotely sensed data can be used to study old-growth forests beyond the use of ALS and despite different abilities to predict forest structure. Accounting for socioecological predictors is indispensable to avoid a significant loss of predictive accuracy. Remotely sensed data can allow for predictions to be made at different spatiotemporal resolutions and extents. This study paves the way to large-scale monitoring of forest maturity, as well as for retrospective analyses which will show to what extent predicted maturity change at different dates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Etienne Lalechère
- Université de Picardie Jules Verne, EDYSAN (UMR CNRS-UPJV 7058), 1 rue des Louvels, 80037, Amiens Cedex, France.
| | - Jean-Matthieu Monnet
- INRAE, UR LESSEM, 2 rue de la Papeterie, BP 76 38402, Saint Martin d'Hères Cedex, France.
| | - Juliette Breen
- INRAE, UR LESSEM, 2 rue de la Papeterie, BP 76 38402, Saint Martin d'Hères Cedex, France.
| | - Marc Fuhr
- INRAE, UR LESSEM, 2 rue de la Papeterie, BP 76 38402, Saint Martin d'Hères Cedex, France.
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Zweifel R, Pappas C, Peters RL, Babst F, Balanzategui D, Basler D, Bastos A, Beloiu M, Buchmann N, Bose AK, Braun S, Damm A, D'Odorico P, Eitel JUH, Etzold S, Fonti P, Rouholahnejad Freund E, Gessler A, Haeni M, Hoch G, Kahmen A, Körner C, Krejza J, Krumm F, Leuchner M, Leuschner C, Lukovic M, Martínez-Vilalta J, Matula R, Meesenburg H, Meir P, Plichta R, Poyatos R, Rohner B, Ruehr N, Salomón RL, Scharnweber T, Schaub M, Steger DN, Steppe K, Still C, Stojanović M, Trotsiuk V, Vitasse Y, von Arx G, Wilmking M, Zahnd C, Sterck F. Networking the forest infrastructure towards near real-time monitoring - A white paper. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2023; 872:162167. [PMID: 36775147 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162167] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2022] [Revised: 02/06/2023] [Accepted: 02/07/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Forests account for nearly 90 % of the world's terrestrial biomass in the form of carbon and they support 80 % of the global biodiversity. To understand the underlying forest dynamics, we need a long-term but also relatively high-frequency, networked monitoring system, as traditionally used in meteorology or hydrology. While there are numerous existing forest monitoring sites, particularly in temperate regions, the resulting data streams are rarely connected and do not provide information promptly, which hampers real-time assessments of forest responses to extreme climate events. The technology to build a better global forest monitoring network now exists. This white paper addresses the key structural components needed to achieve a novel meta-network. We propose to complement - rather than replace or unify - the existing heterogeneous infrastructure with standardized, quality-assured linking methods and interacting data processing centers to create an integrated forest monitoring network. These automated (research topic-dependent) linking methods in atmosphere, biosphere, and pedosphere play a key role in scaling site-specific results and processing them in a timely manner. To ensure broad participation from existing monitoring sites and to establish new sites, these linking methods must be as informative, reliable, affordable, and maintainable as possible, and should be supplemented by near real-time remote sensing data. The proposed novel meta-network will enable the detection of emergent patterns that would not be visible from isolated analyses of individual sites. In addition, the near real-time availability of data will facilitate predictions of current forest conditions (nowcasts), which are urgently needed for research and decision making in the face of rapid climate change. We call for international and interdisciplinary efforts in this direction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roman Zweifel
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland.
| | - Christoforos Pappas
- Department of Civil Engineering, University of Patras, Rio, Patras 26504, Greece.
| | - Richard L Peters
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Institute of Botany, University of Basel, Schönbeinstrasse 6, 4056 Basel, Switzerland.
| | - Flurin Babst
- School of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Arizona, 1064 E Lowell St, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA; Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, 1215 E Lowell St, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
| | - Daniel Balanzategui
- GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Wissenschaftpark "Albert Einstein", Telegrafenberg, Potsdam, Germany; Geography Department, Humboldt University of Berlin, Rudower Ch 16, 12489 Berlin, DE, USA.
| | - David Basler
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland; Department of Environmental Sciences, Institute of Botany, University of Basel, Schönbeinstrasse 6, 4056 Basel, Switzerland.
| | - Ana Bastos
- Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Dept. of Biogeochemical Integration, Hans Knöll Str. 10, 07745 Jena, Germany.
| | - Mirela Beloiu
- Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Nina Buchmann
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, Universitätstr. 2, LFW C56, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Arun K Bose
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland; Forestry and Wood Technology Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna 9208, Bangladesh.
| | - Sabine Braun
- Institute for Applied Plant Biology, Benkenstrasse 254A, 4108 Witterswil, Switzerland.
| | - Alexander Damm
- Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland; Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science & Technology, Surface Waters - Research and Management, Ueberlandstrasse 133, 8600 Duebendorf, Switzerland.
| | - Petra D'Odorico
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland.
| | - Jan U H Eitel
- Department of Natural Resource and Society, University of Idaho, 1800 University Lane, 83638 McCall, ID, USA.
| | - Sophia Etzold
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland.
| | - Patrick Fonti
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland.
| | | | - Arthur Gessler
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland.
| | - Matthias Haeni
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland.
| | - Günter Hoch
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Institute of Botany, University of Basel, Schönbeinstrasse 6, 4056 Basel, Switzerland.
| | - Ansgar Kahmen
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Institute of Botany, University of Basel, Schönbeinstrasse 6, 4056 Basel, Switzerland.
| | - Christian Körner
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Institute of Botany, University of Basel, Schönbeinstrasse 6, 4056 Basel, Switzerland.
| | - Jan Krejza
- Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Bělidla 4a, 603 00 Brno, Czech Republic.
| | - Frank Krumm
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland.
| | - Michael Leuchner
- Department of Physical Geography and Climatology, Institute of Geography, RWTH Aachen University, 52056 Aachen, Germany.
| | - Christoph Leuschner
- Plant Ecology, University of Göttingen, Untere Karspüle 2, 37073 Göttingen, Germany.
| | - Mirko Lukovic
- Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa), Dübendorf 8600, Switzerland.
| | - Jordi Martínez-Vilalta
- CREAF, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Valles), Catalonia E08193, Spain; Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Valles), Catalonia E08193, Spain.
| | - Radim Matula
- Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, Praha 6, Suchdol 16521, Czech Republic.
| | - Henning Meesenburg
- Northwest German Forest Research Institute, Grätzelstr. 2, D-37079 Göttingen, Germany.
| | - Patrick Meir
- School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Alexander Crum Brown Road, Edinburgh EH93FF, UK.
| | - Roman Plichta
- Department of Forest Botany, Dendrology and Geobiocoenology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemedelska 1, 61300 Brno, Czech Republic.
| | - Rafael Poyatos
- CREAF, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Valles), Catalonia E08193, Spain; Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Valles), Catalonia E08193, Spain.
| | - Brigitte Rohner
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland.
| | - Nadine Ruehr
- Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research - Atmospheric Environmental Research, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT, Garmisch-Partenkirchen 82467, Germany.
| | - Roberto L Salomón
- Departamento de Sistemas y Recursos Naturales, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
| | - Tobias Scharnweber
- DendroGreif, University Greifswald, Soldmannstrasse 15, D-17487 Greifswald, Germany.
| | - Marcus Schaub
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland.
| | - David N Steger
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Institute of Botany, University of Basel, Schönbeinstrasse 6, 4056 Basel, Switzerland.
| | - Kathy Steppe
- Laboratory of Plant Ecology, Department of Plants and Crops, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure links 653, 9000 Gent, Belgium.
| | - Christopher Still
- Forest Ecosystems and Society Department, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA.
| | - Marko Stojanović
- Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Bělidla 4a, 603 00 Brno, Czech Republic.
| | - Volodymyr Trotsiuk
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland.
| | - Yann Vitasse
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland.
| | - Georg von Arx
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland; Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland.
| | - Martin Wilmking
- DendroGreif, University Greifswald, Soldmannstrasse 15, D-17487 Greifswald, Germany.
| | - Cedric Zahnd
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Institute of Botany, University of Basel, Schönbeinstrasse 6, 4056 Basel, Switzerland.
| | - Frank Sterck
- Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University and Research, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, the Netherlands.
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4
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Mikolāš M, Piovesan G, Ahlström A, Donato DC, Gloor R, Hofmeister J, Keeton WS, Muys B, Sabatini FM, Svoboda M, Kuemmerle T. Protect old-growth forests in Europe now. Science 2023; 380:466. [PMID: 37141361 DOI: 10.1126/science.adh2303] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Martin Mikolāš
- Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Gianluca Piovesan
- Department in Ecological and Biological Sciences, University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy
| | - Anders Ahlström
- Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Daniel C Donato
- University of Washington, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Rhiannon Gloor
- Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Jeňýk Hofmeister
- Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - William S Keeton
- Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources and Gund Institute of Environment, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA
| | - Bart Muys
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Francesco M Sabatini
- Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
- Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Miroslav Svoboda
- Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Tobias Kuemmerle
- Geography Department, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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