Earth observation for habitat mapping and biodiversity monitoring

Biodiversity – the variety of life forms and our “natural capital nd life-insurance” (European Commission, 2011) – is on decline Isbell, 2010; Trochet and Schmeller, 2013), with consequences on cosystem function and stability, and ultimately human well-being Naeem et al., 2009). Since 1992, the International Convention on iological Diversity, short CBD, has bundled the United Nations’ oint effort to halt or at least lower the accelerated loss of biodiersity, but indeed it remains one of the key global challenges that equires a concerted, effective use of latest technology. As by the nd of 2010 (the “International Year of Biodiversity”) the global ociety became aware that the ambitious goal of “halting biodiverity” has not been reached, the importance of both observation and echnology development became even more important. Safeguarding the integrity of species and ecosystems is a lobal challenge with continental, regional, and ultimately local mplications – with biodiversity being a glocalized phenomenon. eographically this manifests in a hierarchy of scales, from biomes, ver (systems of) ecosystems down to communities, populations nd species. The spatial variability of critical parameters at each ierarchical level can be used as an indication of current state nd conditions, distribution, and temporal dynamic of biodiverity. Observing and monitoring aspects of biodiversity, at any level nd scale, can thus be approximated by analysing the composition, ariability and changes of tangible entities (i.e. habitats) and their patial patterns (Bock et al., 2005). Remote sensing technology has he capacity to provide spatially explicit information relevant to the ulti-scale perspective required by ecologists (to investigate the elationships between pattern and processes) and land managers to design and implement conservation actions). This information hus complements data obtained through standardized, in situ sureys related to very local aspects of biodiversity, by representing ntegrated higher-level characteristics such as those of ecological eighbourhoods (Addicot et al., 1987), defined by the upper (extent, bject/scene size) and lower (grain, spatial resolution) limits of ata information content and perception (Wiens, 1989) and cited iterature). The matching of various resolution levels of satellite sensor amilies with the organizational levels of biological systems and rganism perception is one aspect – the correspondence with patial and temporal domains of environmental policies another. atellite Earth observation (EO) has started to become a ubiquitous