Conservation Ecology and Environmental Sciences Group

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Developing biodiversity indicators from remotely sensed data

Context

Biodiversity indicators are important for monitoring the status and trends of biological diversity and, in turn, feeding back information on ways to improve the effectiveness of biodiversity policies and management programmes. When used to assess national, regional or global trends, they build a bridge between the fields of policy-making and science.

Deriving biodiversity indicators remotely by the analysis of airborne or satellite sensor data will enable baselines and trends to be detected over regional or national scales. This is important for maintaining legislative responsibilities under the Convention for Biodiversity.

* Diversity of habitats per 1 km square in Great Britain based on satellite mapping

Approach

The spatial configuration and composition of UK landscapes mapped by remote sensing techniques can be compared with national scale biological records (for example, those available through the National Biodiversity Network). This can lead to the development of biogeographical rule bases on habitat patch dimensions, fragmentation, connectivity and composition, and to biodiversity indicators at the national scale.

* One of 40 clusters identified in the UK of distinctive land cover composition and bird species distribution

Publications

Hill, R.A., & Smith, G.E. (2005) Land cover heterogeneity in Great Britain as identified in Land Cover Map 2000. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 24, 5467-5473

Fuller, R.M., Devereux, B.J., Gillings, S., Hill, R.A., & Amable, G.S. (2007) Bird distributions relative to remotely sensed habitats in Great Britain: towards a potential framework for national modelling? Journal of Environmental Management., 84, 586-605.

Fuller, R.M., Devereux, B.J., Gillings, S., Amable, G.S., & Hill, R.A. (2005) Indices of bird-habitat preference from bird field surveys and remote sensing of land cover: a study of south-eastern England with wider implications for conservation and biodiversity assessment. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 14, 223-239.

Fuller, R.M., Cox, R., Clarke, R., Rothery, P., Hill, R.A., Smith, G,M., Thomson, A.,G., Brown., N.J., Howard, D., & Stott, A. (2005) The UK Land Cover Map 2000: planning, construction and calibration of a user-oriented map of Broad Habitats from remotely sensed satellite images. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 7, 202-216.

Fuller, R.M., Smith, G.M., Sanderson, J.M., Hill, R.A., & Thomson A.G. (2002) The UK Land Cover Map 2000: construction of a parcel-based vector map from satellite images. Cartographic Journal, 39, 15-25.

Contact email address
Dr Ross Hill

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