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Organized Oral Session

Session: : Advances in Ecological Research Using Remotely-Sensed Earth Observations

OOS 59-1 - Biodiversity from Space: Understanding Ecosystem Structure, Diversity, and Function with Remote Sensing

Thursday, August 10, 2023
1:30 PM – 1:45 PM PDT
Location: 256
Biodiversity is under pressure by anthropogenic and climate change, but it is incredibly difficult to measure, monitor and predict across the globe. We face large knowledge gaps in terms of the spatial distribution and temporal dynamics of biodiversity and related ecosystem functions. A new suite of current and upcoming remote sensing instruments is providing large-scale measurements of plant canopy structure, plant functional traits and diversity, and ecosystem functioning from space. Spaceborne lidar, such as from the GEDI instrument, can provide us with a new view on the three-dimensional plant canopy structure of temperate, Mediterranean, subtropical and tropical forests. New measurements of evapotranspiration and solar-induced fluorescence, such as from the ECOSTRESS and TROPOMI instruments, offer the opportunity to monitor evapotranspiration and productivity of plants. New imaging spectroscopy methods developed using airborne (e.g., AVIRIS Classic/NG) and spaceborne instruments (e.g., PRISMA, EMIT, EnMAP, SBG) will allow us to monitor global changes in leaf biochemical and biophysical traits from space. Combining these new measurements with ground-based data will help to better understand biodiversity patterns and change over time. In this talk, I will present examples of new analyses of remotely sensed patterns of plant functional and structural diversity, and their relationship to other dimensions of biodiversity and ecosystem functions, that demonstrate the value and potential of new remote sensing instruments and methods for biodiversity monitoring from space. Today’s methods and models, developed for moderate-resolution remote sensing, are inadequate to this task, which presents a challenge as these new observations are integrated for a global picture of biodiversity change.