REMOTE SENSING FOR SUSTAINABLE LANDSCAPES ANDREW SKIDMORE

SUSTAINABLE LANDSCAPES Protected areas: 10-15% land surface >100,000 ha 0.12 ha/capita >1,000,000 ha 0.08 ha/capita Wilderness area is larger than protected areas http://www.cbd.int/gbo1/chap-05.shtml

SUSTAINABLE FOOD SUPPLY CHAINS Characteristics of a sustainable food supply chain? lean & green indefinite production no negative impact on nature or biodiversity How to measure with remote sensing?

MONITORING LANDSCAPE SUSTAINABILITY COVER TYPES - FOREST OR AGRICULTURE? Teak inter-planted with sweet potato http://archive.iwlearn.net/www.sprep.org/www.sprep.org/slm/linkages-slm.htm Native cypress pine and grazing Walnut and cherry interplanted with rapeseed and beans France

PLANT TRAITS Plant traits may be measured from EO or in situ LAI or canopy cover Biomass & yield Productivity fapar Specific leaf area From plant traits derive land cover and plant functional types Cover type Ecosystem distribution Leaf life span Cornelissen, J. H. C. et al. (2003) (Reich et al. 1992) TRAITS CLASSES (not vice versa)

MEASURES OF SUSTAINABILITY SHOULD BE: Simple Quantifiable Repeatable Transferable PTs = LAI, biomass, productivity, specific leaf area

MEASURES OF SUSTAINABILITY SHOULD BE: Simple Quantifable Repeatable Transferable Representative WWF - Living planet database http://www.zsl.org/science/research-projects/lpi,1162,ar.html

MEASURES OF SUSTAINABILITY SHOULD BE: Simple Quantifiable Repeatable Transferable Representative Accurate Cheap Aerodata International 10 cm imagery - Google

VARIABLES TO MEASURE SUSTAINABILITY PROPOSED BY SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITIES Essential climate variables Essential biodiversity variables Essential ocean variables

GLOBAL CLIMATE OBSERVING SYSTEM ESSENTIAL CLIMATE VARIABLES (ECV) Domain GCOS Essential Climate Variables 50+ GCOS Essential Climate Variables (ECVs) (2010) Land cover, fapar, LAI, biomass, (fire) disturbance, soil moisture, soil carbon Atmospheric (over land, sea and ice) Oceanic Surface:[1] Air temperature, Wind speed and direction, Water vapour, Pressure, Precipitation, Surface radiation budget. Upper-air:[2] Temperature, Wind speed and direction, Water vapour, Cloud properties, Earth radiation budget (including solar irradiance). Composition: Carbon dioxide, Methane, and other long-lived greenhouse gases[3], Ozone and Aerosol, supported by their precursors[4]. Surface:[5] Sea-surface temperature, Sea-surface salinity, Sea level, Sea state, Sea ice, Surface current, Ocean colour, Carbon dioxide partial pressure, Ocean acidity, Phytoplankton. Sub-surface: Temperature, Salinity, Current, Nutrients, Carbon dioxide partial pressure, Ocean acidity, Oxygen, Tracers. Terrestrial River discharge, Water use, Groundwater, Lakes, Snow cover, Glaciers and ice caps, Ice sheets, Permafrost, Albedo, Land cover (including vegetation type), Fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (FAPAR), Leaf area index (LAI), Above-ground biomass, Soil carbon, Fire disturbance, Soil moisture. http://gosic.org/ios/matrices/ecv/ecv-matrix.htm 10

ESSENTIAL BIODIVERSITY VARIABLES Which may not be measured with IS or EO Allelic richness Phylogenic diversity Gene diversity Functional attributes (diet, breeding system, body mass) Co-ancestry Number and frequency of key traits Turnover (beta-diversity) Degree of protection Use rate by humans Use benefits to humans (economic, spiritual, cultural ) Non-use benefits (existence, aesthetic ) 11

ESSENTIAL BIODIVERSITY VARIABLES PROXIES FOR LANDSCAPE SUSTAINABILITY EASY TO MEASURE! Species occurrence Population abundance Population structure Number and frequency of varieties/breeds Phenology (PhiX) Movement patterns Life history and demography Physiological characteristics Ancillary attributes Structural type Disturbance regime Ecosystem extent (type) Cover (biomass, LAI, height) Ecosystem distribution Carbon sequestration (balance and storage) Photosynthetic activity (GPP = fapar = LUE) Respiration (NPP) Allocation of biomass (functional type) Leaf Nitrogen content Leaf phosphorus limitation Secondary products 12

ESSENTIAL (BIODIVERSITY AND CLIMATE) VARIABLES IN AGRICULTURE Biomass Crop yield fapar Crop growth Phenology Crop development

ECOSYSTEM SERVICES FROM AGRICULTURAL LAND PROVISION OF FOOD, FIBER AND FUEL Agricultural land is usually managed for the provision of food, fiber, and fuel, often at the expense of other ES What are the main tools used at present? Remote sensing derived data products Crop Yield Forecasting System

ECOSYSTEM SERVICES FROM AGRICULTURAL LAND REMOTE SENSING DERIVED DATA PRODUCTS Meteosat 2 nd generation 5 km resolution JRC Monitoring Agricultural Resources (MARS) Used in the MARS crop yield forecasting system (MCYFS)

ECOSYSTEM SERVICES FROM AGRICULTURAL LAND CROP YIELD FORECASTING SYSTEM JRC Monitoring Agricultural resources (MARS) http://mars.jrc.ec.europa.eu/mars/about-us/agri4cast/mars-bulletins-for-europe

PHENOLOGY AND CROP DEVELOPMENT Phenology is about the timing of periodic natural events Satellite time series evaluate variability and trends Used for studies on food security & biodiversity Provisioning of ecosystem services from agricultural land Recognize 3 crops from their time series

ECOSYSTEM SERVICES FROM AGRICULTURAL LAND CROP AREA FROM SPACE DATA TO LANDSCAPE LEVEL BARLEY (R-Sq=75%) Sunflower (R-Sq=96%) WHEAT (R-Sq=98%)

OTHER ECOSYSTEM SERVICES FROM AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPES Ecosystem services at farm/local scale: soil nitrogen & water supply fragmentation & biodiversity

NITROGEN FERTILIZER APPLICATION

FOLIAR NITROGEN INPUT TO SOIL NITRATE MODELS Operationalization of European Water Framework Directive Detecting soil and foliar nitrogen http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/eet.446/abstract Geology Foliar nitrogen grasses

OTHER ECOSYSTEM SERVICES FROM AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPES Possible ecosystem services from farms cooperating at a landscape scale: soil nitrogen & water supply fragmentation & biodiversity

BAT BIODIVERSITY IN LOWER SAXONY Pond bat Hollow trees/roofs Near threatened Western Barbastelle Old growth forest Near threatened NABU project on improved monitoring of bats in Lower Saxony,

SUSTAINABILITY BOSWELLIA PAPYRIFERA 18,000 KM 2 PROBABILITY OF TREE OCCURRENCE - FRANKINCENSE PRODUCTION

CRETAN WALL-LIZARD (PODARCIS ERHARDII) 15 m resolution farm level

ASSESSING SPECIES FROM IMAGE SPECTROSCOPY ARE SPECIES BEING SUSTAINED IN A LANDSCAPE OVER TIME? 27 salt marsh species could be discriminated based on their spectra Possible to compare species extent and change over time 80% map accuracy API 30% map accuracy Schmidt and Skidmore 2002 27

FIRE SALAMANDER (SALAMANDRA SALAMANDRA) 2014 2014 Original field observations from 1996 in Lower Saxony 2014 suitable habitat 2014 2002 habitat change

FRAGMENTATION Entire panda population in China, at least 30 fragmented populations exist, in which many fewer than 50 individuals. In Qinling Mountains, at present, there are 4 isolated sub-populations. Research and monitoring shows there no communications between them.

GIANT PANDA MOVEMENT

GIANT PANDA AND VEGETATION Wang et al. 2010, Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing 16 days composition of MODIS-NDVI RPDi = (NDVIi NDVImin) / (NDVImax - NDVImin)

SUSTAINABLE LANDSCAPE? HABITAT FRAGMENTATION CRESTED IBIS AND WINTER FLOODED RICE FIELDS (BLI)

SPECIES DISTRIBUTION MODELS ANIMAL TRACKING, CLIMATE CHANGE AND FRAGMENTATION 2050 2010 Species probability of occurrence Species distribution change due to climate change Species distribution change due to fragmentation

MEASUREMENTS OF SUSTAINABILTY SHOULD BE: ACCURATE AND CHEAP FOREST AROUND ENSCHEDE Dutch topographic map 1:25000 Aerodata International 10 cm air photo - Google Netherlands JRC Forest Map 2006 (FMAP2006) IRS-P6 http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/enschede-topografie.jpg http://www.earthzine.org/2012/07/25/pan-european-forest-maps-derived-from-optical-satellite-imagery/ http://forest.jrc.ec.europa.eu/download/data/google-earth-overlays/

MEASUREMENTS OF SUSTAINABILTY SHOULD BE: ACCURATE AND CHEAP FOREST AROUND ENSCHEDE Dutch topographic map 1:25000 Aerodata International 10 cm air photo - Google Netherlands JRC Forest Map GLOBCOVER 2006 ENVISAT (FMAP2006) MERIS 300m IRS-P6 http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/enschede-topografie.jpg http://www.earthzine.org/2012/07/25/pan-european-forest-maps-derived-from-optical-satellite-imagery/ http://forest.jrc.ec.europa.eu/download/data/google-earth-overlays/

TO SUMMARIZE 1. Use simple and repeatable metrics to assess sustainability 2. Remote sensing can measure landscape sustainability metrics: biomass, crop yields, soil nitrate, keystone and flagship species 3. Operational EU systems are at a regional/continental scale 4. Remote sensing is a perfect tool for assessing and monitoring sustainable landscapes for agricultural industry, farmers and conservation e.g. landscape fragmentation 5. Need to incorporate finer resolution data and analysis for monitoring ecosystem services and biodiversity 6. Set up an operational biodiversity observation network (like the MARS system)