Priority list of biodiversity metrics to observe from space

Andrew K Skidmore^{1

2}, Nicholas C Coops³, Elnaz Neinavaz⁴, Abebe Ali^{4

5}, Michael E Schaepman⁶, Marc Paganini⁷, W Daniel Kissling⁸, Petteri Vihervaara⁹, Roshanak Darvishzadeh⁴, Hannes Feilhauer^{10

11}, Miguel Fernandez^{12

13}, Néstor Fernández^{14

15}, Noel Gorelick¹⁶, Ilse Geijzendorffer¹⁷, Uta Heiden¹⁸, Marco Heurich^{19

20}, Donald Hobern²¹, Stefanie Holzwarth¹⁸, Frank E Muller-Karger²², Ruben Van De Kerchove²³, Angela Lausch^{24

25}, Pedro J Leitão^{26

27}, Marcelle C Lock^{4

28}, Caspar A Mücher²⁹, Brian O'Connor³⁰, Duccio Rocchini^{31

32}, Claudia Roeoesli⁶, Woody Turner³³, Jan Kees Vis³⁴, Tiejun Wang⁴, Martin Wegmann³⁵, Vladimir Wingate³⁶

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands. a.k.skidmore@utwente.nl.
² Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. a.k.skidmore@utwente.nl.
³ Department of Forest Resources Management, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
⁴ Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands.
⁵ Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Wollo University, Dessie, Ethiopia.
⁶ Remote Sensing Laboratories, Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁷ European Space Research Institute (ESRIN), European Space Agency, Frascati, Italy.
⁸ Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
⁹ Biodiversity Centre, Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), Helsinki, Finland.
¹⁰ Institute of Geographical Sciences, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
¹¹ Remote Sensing Center for Earth System Research, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
¹² NatureServe, Arlington, VA, USA.
¹³ George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA.
¹⁴ German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Leipzig, Germany.
¹⁵ Institute of Biology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany.
¹⁶ Google, Zurich, Switzerland.
¹⁷ Tour du Valat, Arles, France.
¹⁸ Earth Observation Center (EOC), Remote Sensing Technology Institute, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany.
¹⁹ Department of Visitor Management and National Park Monitoring, Bavarian Forest National Park Administration, Grafenau, Germany.
²⁰ Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
²¹ GBIF Secretariat, Copenhagen, Denmark.
²² College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, St Petersburg, FL, USA.
²³ Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Mol, Belgium.
²⁴ Computational Landscape Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Leipzig, Germany.
²⁵ Geography Department, Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
²⁶ Technische Universität Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany.
²⁷ Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
²⁸ Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
²⁹ Wageningen Environmental Research, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, the Netherlands.
³⁰ UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge, UK.
³¹ Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
³² Department of Applied Geoinformatics and Spatial Planning, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic.
³³ Earth Science Division, NASA, Washington DC, USA.
³⁴ Unilever Europe B.V., Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
³⁵ Institute of Geography and Geology, University of Wuerzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
³⁶ Land Systems and Sustainable Land Management, Geographisches Institut, Universität Bern, Bern, Switzerland.

PMID: 33986541
DOI: 10.1038/s41559-021-01451-x

Review

Priority list of biodiversity metrics to observe from space

Andrew K Skidmore et al. Nat Ecol Evol. 2021 Jul.

. 2021 Jul;5(7):896-906.

doi: 10.1038/s41559-021-01451-x. Epub 2021 May 13.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands. a.k.skidmore@utwente.nl.
² Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. a.k.skidmore@utwente.nl.
³ Department of Forest Resources Management, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
⁴ Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands.
⁵ Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Wollo University, Dessie, Ethiopia.
⁶ Remote Sensing Laboratories, Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁷ European Space Research Institute (ESRIN), European Space Agency, Frascati, Italy.
⁸ Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
⁹ Biodiversity Centre, Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), Helsinki, Finland.
¹⁰ Institute of Geographical Sciences, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
¹¹ Remote Sensing Center for Earth System Research, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
¹² NatureServe, Arlington, VA, USA.
¹³ George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA.
¹⁴ German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Leipzig, Germany.
¹⁵ Institute of Biology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany.
¹⁶ Google, Zurich, Switzerland.
¹⁷ Tour du Valat, Arles, France.
¹⁸ Earth Observation Center (EOC), Remote Sensing Technology Institute, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany.
¹⁹ Department of Visitor Management and National Park Monitoring, Bavarian Forest National Park Administration, Grafenau, Germany.
²⁰ Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
²¹ GBIF Secretariat, Copenhagen, Denmark.
²² College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, St Petersburg, FL, USA.
²³ Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Mol, Belgium.
²⁴ Computational Landscape Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Leipzig, Germany.
²⁵ Geography Department, Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
²⁶ Technische Universität Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany.
²⁷ Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
²⁸ Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
²⁹ Wageningen Environmental Research, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, the Netherlands.
³⁰ UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge, UK.
³¹ Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
³² Department of Applied Geoinformatics and Spatial Planning, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic.
³³ Earth Science Division, NASA, Washington DC, USA.
³⁴ Unilever Europe B.V., Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
³⁵ Institute of Geography and Geology, University of Wuerzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
³⁶ Land Systems and Sustainable Land Management, Geographisches Institut, Universität Bern, Bern, Switzerland.

PMID: 33986541
DOI: 10.1038/s41559-021-01451-x

Erratum in

Author Correction: Priority list of biodiversity metrics to observe from space.
Skidmore AK, Coops NC, Neinavaz E, Ali A, Schaepman ME, Paganini M, Kissling WD, Vihervaara P, Darvishzadeh R, Feilhauer H, Fernandez M, Fernández N, Gorelick N, Geijzendorffer I, Heiden U, Heurich M, Hobern D, Holzwarth S, Muller-Karger FE, Van De Kerchove R, Lausch A, Leitão PJ, Lock MC, Mücher CA, O'Connor B, Rocchini D, Turner W, Vis JK, Wang T, Wegmann M, Wingate V. Skidmore AK, et al. Nat Ecol Evol. 2021 Jul;5(7):1046. doi: 10.1038/s41559-021-01492-2. Nat Ecol Evol. 2021. PMID: 34031569 No abstract available.
Author Correction: Priority list of biodiversity metrics to observe from space.
Skidmore AK, Coops NC, Neinavaz E, Ali A, Schaepman ME, Paganini M, Kissling WD, Vihervaara P, Darvishzadeh R, Feilhauer H, Fernandez M, Fernández N, Gorelick N, Geijzendorffer I, Heiden U, Heurich M, Hobern D, Holzwarth S, Muller-Karger FE, Van De Kerchove R, Lausch A, Leitão PJ, Lock MC, Mücher CA, O'Connor B, Rocchini D, Roeoesli C, Turner W, Vis JK, Wang T, Wegmann M, Wingate V. Skidmore AK, et al. Nat Ecol Evol. 2021 Sep;5(9):1318. doi: 10.1038/s41559-021-01527-8. Nat Ecol Evol. 2021. PMID: 34282320 No abstract available.
Author Correction: Priority list of biodiversity metrics to observe from space.
Skidmore AK, Coops NC, Neinavaz E, Ali A, Schaepman ME, Paganini M, Kissling WD, Vihervaara P, Darvishzadeh R, Feilhauer H, Fernandez M, Fernández N, Gorelick N, Geijzendorffer I, Heiden U, Heurich M, Hobern D, Holzwarth S, Muller-Karger FE, Van De Kerchove R, Lausch A, Leitão PJ, Lock MC, Mücher CA, O'Connor B, Rocchini D, Roeoesli C, Turner W, Vis JK, Wang T, Wegmann M, Wingate V. Skidmore AK, et al. Nat Ecol Evol. 2021 Dec;5(12):1639. doi: 10.1038/s41559-021-01595-w. Nat Ecol Evol. 2021. PMID: 34697457 No abstract available.

Abstract

Monitoring global biodiversity from space through remotely sensing geospatial patterns has high potential to add to our knowledge acquired by field observation. Although a framework of essential biodiversity variables (EBVs) is emerging for monitoring biodiversity, its poor alignment with remote sensing products hinders interpolation between field observations. This study compiles a comprehensive, prioritized list of remote sensing biodiversity products that can further improve the monitoring of geospatial biodiversity patterns, enhancing the EBV framework and its applicability. The ecosystem structure and ecosystem function EBV classes, which capture the biological effects of disturbance as well as habitat structure, are shown by an expert review process to be the most relevant, feasible, accurate and mature for direct monitoring of biodiversity from satellites. Biodiversity products that require satellite remote sensing of a finer resolution that is still under development are given lower priority (for example, for the EBV class species traits). Some EBVs are not directly measurable by remote sensing from space, specifically the EBV class genetic composition. Linking remote sensing products to EBVs will accelerate product generation, improving reporting on the state of biodiversity from local to global scales.

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Comment in

Carbon farming: integrate biodiversity metrics.
Coutu S, Becker-Reshef I, Pellissier L. Coutu S, et al. Nature. 2022 Sep;609(7927):467. doi: 10.1038/d41586-022-02896-1. Nature. 2022. PMID: 36100676 No abstract available.

References

1. Díaz, S. et al. Summary for Policymakers of the Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES Secretariat, 2019).
1. Paganini, M., Leidner, A. K., Geller, G., Turner, W. & Wegmann, M. The role of space agencies in remotely sensed essential biodiversity variables. Remote Sens. Ecol. Conserv. 2, 132–140 (2016). - DOI
1. What are EBVs? GEO BON https://geobon.org/ebvs/what-are-ebvs/ (2020).
1. Pereira, H. M. et al. Essential biodiversity variables. Science 339, 277–278 (2013). - PubMed - DOI
1. Jetz, W. et al. Monitoring plant functional diversity from space. Nat. Plants 2, 16024 (2016). - PubMed - DOI

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Priority list of biodiversity metrics to observe from space

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Priority list of biodiversity metrics to observe from space

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