Remote sensing for monitoring grasslands’ conservation status

Grasslands are vital elements of the European landscape. Extensively managed, semi-natural
grasslands are among the most diverse ecosystems in Europe and are crucial in maintaining
landscape-scale habitat and species diversity. However, many grassland habitats are currently
experiencing a decrease in conservation status, mainly due to nitrogen pollution from agriculture and
traffic.
Conservation status is defined here as “the sum of the influences acting on a natural habitat and its
typical species that may affect its long-term survival natural distribution, structure and functions, as
well as the long-term survival of its specific species within the territory.”
The main objective of this research will be to assess the potential of a remote sensing-based
processing chain for assessing the conservation status of grasslands. Examples of conservation status
indicators are ‘presence of small ditches’ and ‘grass and shrub encroachment’.
We will use diverse sources of input data (hyperspectral and LiDAR) to analyze the scientific potential
of remote sensing for extracting grassland status indicators and to study the impact of spectral and
spatial resolution. Finally, we will run our application on freely available images (Sentinel 2, ASTER,
Landsat 8, aerial images) to assess the discrepancy between its scientific potential and its current
operational status. This will allow us to formulate recommendations on the type of (satellite) sensors
that need to be deployed to asses grassland conservation status with remote sensing.