Biodiversity multi-source monitoring system: from space to species (BIO_SOS)

BIO_SOS is a response to the Call for proposals FP7-SPACE-2010-1, addressing topic ‘Stimulating the development of GMES services in specific areas’ with application to (B) Biodiversity. It is a 3-year project: starting date 1 December 2012. Whilst the establishment of Natura 2000 sites in Europe provided protection for a diverse range of important habitats, human activities have resulted in changes in the surrounding landscape that are influencing the condition of contained habitats and their associated biodiversity. Recognising the ability of remote sensing data, particularly those provided by high (HR) and very high resolution (VHR) sensors, the BIO_SOS project aims to develop a cost-effective pre-operational ecological modelling system suitable for timely multiannual monitoring of Natura 2000 sites, including their surrounding areas, with this referred to as EO Data for Habitat Monitoring (EOD HaM). As input, EODHaM is using satellite-derived and in situ data to drive models of species distributions and dynamics at both the habitat and landscape levels. The proposed system is characterised by a twostage knowledge-based (i.e. deductive learning) classification scheme for land cover (LC) and habitat mapping and includes components for change monitoring. A third stage is devoted to automated biodiversity indicator extraction and analysis of change under a range of scenarios. Ontologies and semantic networks are used to formally represent The EODHaM system, which is expected to provide improved operational core service products, is being developed for sites in the Mediterranean countries of Italy, Portugal and Greece and western Europe (the Netherlands and Wales) and further evaluated for tropical environments in Brazil and India, where the availability of advanced monitoring systems is critical for conservation of biodiversity. The modelling framework developed is expected to provide a deeper understanding of the impacts of human-induced pressures (e.g. agricultural expansion, mining and road construction) on biodiversity conservation, which will lead to the development of new downstream services. Key output products include LC and LCC maps based on the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) land cover classification scheme (LCCS) with these translated to general habitat categories (Bunce et al., 2008), Annex I and EUNIS habitat categories. The products generated by the BIO_SOS project will be available to allow the impacts of past, current and present policies on Natura 2000 sites and their surroundings to be better evaluated.