TY - JOUR
T1 - Remote sensing for mapping natural habitats and their conservation status – New opportunities and challenges
AU - Corbane, Christina
AU - Lang, Stefan
AU - Pipkins, Kyle
AU - Alleaume, Samuel
AU - Deshayes, Michel
AU - Garcia Millan, Virginia Elena
AU - Strasser, Thomas
AU - Vanden Borre, Jeroen
AU - Spanhove, Toon
AU - Förster, Michael
PY - 2015/5
Y1 - 2015/5
N2 - Safeguarding the diversity of natural and semi-natural habitats in Europe is one of the aims set out by theHabitats Directive (Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild faunaand flora) and one of the targets of the European 2020 Biodiversity Strategy, and is to be accomplishedby maintaining a favourable conservation status. To reach this aim a high-level understanding of thedistribution and conditions of these habitats is needed. Remote sensing can considerably contributeto habitat mapping and their observation over time. Several European projects and a large number ofscientific studies have addressed the issue of mapping and monitoring natural habitats via remote sensingand the deriving of indicators on their conservation status. The multitude of utilized remote sensingsensors and applied methods used in these studies, however, impede a common understanding of whatis achievable with current state-of-the-art technologies. The aim of this paper is to provide a synthesison what is currently feasible in terms of detection and monitoring of natural and semi-natural habitatswith remote sensing. To focus this endeavour, we concentrate on those studies aimed at direct mappingof individual habitat types or discriminating between different types of habitats occurring in relativelylarge, spatially contiguous units. By this we uncover the potential of remote sensing to better understandthe distribution of habitats and the assessment of their conservation status in Europe.
AB - Safeguarding the diversity of natural and semi-natural habitats in Europe is one of the aims set out by theHabitats Directive (Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild faunaand flora) and one of the targets of the European 2020 Biodiversity Strategy, and is to be accomplishedby maintaining a favourable conservation status. To reach this aim a high-level understanding of thedistribution and conditions of these habitats is needed. Remote sensing can considerably contributeto habitat mapping and their observation over time. Several European projects and a large number ofscientific studies have addressed the issue of mapping and monitoring natural habitats via remote sensingand the deriving of indicators on their conservation status. The multitude of utilized remote sensingsensors and applied methods used in these studies, however, impede a common understanding of whatis achievable with current state-of-the-art technologies. The aim of this paper is to provide a synthesison what is currently feasible in terms of detection and monitoring of natural and semi-natural habitatswith remote sensing. To focus this endeavour, we concentrate on those studies aimed at direct mappingof individual habitat types or discriminating between different types of habitats occurring in relativelylarge, spatially contiguous units. By this we uncover the potential of remote sensing to better understandthe distribution of habitats and the assessment of their conservation status in Europe.
U2 - 10.1016/j.jag.2014.11.005
DO - 10.1016/j.jag.2014.11.005
M3 - A1: Web of Science-article
JO - INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION
JF - INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION
SN - 0303-2434
ER -