Vegetation Structure and Function as Essential Biodiversity Variables: from the Visible to Thermal
| Chair: | Andrew Skidmore, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, The Netherlands a.k.skidmore@utwente.nl |
| Co-Chair: | Roshanak Darvishzadeh, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, The Netherlands r.darvish@utwente.nl | Tiejun Wang, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, The Netherlands t.wang@utwente.nl |
Quantifying and mapping vegetation structure and plant traits of biophysical and biochemical parameters is a step towards sustainable management of natural resources and biodiversity. Many of these traits and structural parameters are inputs to agricultural, ecological, and meteorological models. A number of these parameters are recognized as essential biodiversity variables proposed by Skidmore et al. (2015) to capture biodiversity change from space. Several studies have successfully estimated vegetation biophysical and biochemical variables from hyperspectral data in the visible, near-infrared and shortwave infrared at both leaf and canopy levels. Although hyperspectral measurements have appeared as a powerful platform for measuring and estimating biochemical and biophysical vegetation parameters, operational methods for quantifying these variables at landscape, regional or global scales are lacking. Therefore, developing robust and operational algorithms that can rigorously predict vegetation structure and plant traits at different scales is pivotal. Moreover, recent studies have shown that hyperspectral data in the mid-wave and thermal infrared contain absorption features related to various vegetation components. Despite this, little is known about the mid-wave and thermal infrared properties of vegetation.
The proposed session is planning to bring together researchers in the field of hyperspectral (thermal & visible) remote sensing of vegetation and discuss relevant and the innovative achievements in the field as well as shortcomings. Links with LiDAR will also be established to discuss issues of complementarity. The session will consist of studies at different levels from leaf to canopy and landscape level using laboratory and airborne spectrometers and LiDAR as well as give an overview of present and upcoming satellite capabilities.
Keywords: Vegetation, Biophysical Variables, Biochemical Variables, Leaf, Canopy, Hyperspectral, Thermal
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