Assessing biodiversity from space: Impact of spatial and spectral resolution on trait-based functional diversity

Observing functional diversity continuously in time and space using satellite imagery forms the basis for studying impact, interactions, and feedback of environmental change mechanisms on ecosystems and biodiversity globally. Functional diversity of plant traits links ecosystem functioning and biodi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Remote sensing of environment 2022-06, Vol.275, p.113024, Article 113024
Main Authors: Helfenstein, Isabelle S., Schneider, Fabian D., Schaepman, Michael E., Morsdorf, Felix
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biodiversity
Chlorophyll
Divergence
Diversity mapping
Ecosystems
Environmental changes
Forest ecosystems
Forests
Functional diversity
Illumination
Imaging spectroscopy
Mapping
Moisture content
Physiology
Plant diversity
Plant traits
Satellite imagery
Satellites
Scaling
Sentinel-2
Spectral resolution
Spectroscopy
Spectrum analysis
Temperate forest
Temperate forests
Terrestrial ecosystems
Topographic effects
Vegetation
Water content
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Summary:Observing functional diversity continuously in time and space using satellite imagery forms the basis for studying impact, interactions, and feedback of environmental change mechanisms on ecosystems and biodiversity globally. Functional diversity of plant traits links ecosystem functioning and biodiversity. This work presents an approach to map and quantify functional diversity of physiological forest traits derived from 20 m Sentinel-2 data in a temperate forest ecosystem. We used two complementary data sources, namely high-resolution, as well as spatially resampled airborne imaging spectroscopy data and Sentinel-2 data, to ensure our methods support consistently mapping functional diversity from space. We retrieved three physiological traits related to forest health, stress, and potential productivity, namely chlorophyll, carotenoid, and water content, from airborne imaging spectroscopy and Sentinel-2 data using corresponding spectral indices as proxies. We analyzed changes in two functional diversity metrics, namely functional richness and divergence, at different spatial resolutions. Both functional diversity metrics depend on the size and number of pixels to derive functional diversity as a function of distance, leading to different interpretations. When mapping functional diversity using Sentinel-2 data, small-scale patterns
ISSN:0034-4257
1879-0704
DOI:10.1016/j.rse.2022.113024