More than counting pixels - perspectives on the importance of remote sensing training in ecology and conservation

This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Wiley via http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/rse2.27As remote sensing (RS) applications and resources continue to expand, their importance for ecology and conservation increases – and so does the need for effective and successful training of professionals working in those fields. Methodological and applied courses often form part of university curricula, but their practical and long-term benefits only become clear afterwards. Having recently received such training in an interdisciplinary master’s programme, we provide our perspectives on our shared education. Through an online survey we include experiences of students and professionals in different fields. Most participants perceive their RS education as useful for their career, but express a need for more training at university level. Hands-on projects are considered the most effective learning method. Besides methodological knowledge, soft skills are clear gains, including problem solving, self-learning and finding individual solutions, and the ability to work in interdisciplinary teams. The largest identified gaps in current RS training concern the application regarding policy making, methodology and conservation. To successfully prepare students for a career, study programmes need to provide RS courses based on state-of-the-art methods, including programming, and interdisciplinary projects linking research and practice supported by a sound technical background.German Research Foundation (DFG), University of Bayreut

More than counting pixels – perspectives on the importance of remote sensing training in ecology and conservation

This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Wiley via http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/rse2.27As remote sensing (RS) applications and resources continue to expand, their importance for ecology and conservation increases – and so does the need for effective and successful training of professionals working in those fields. Methodological and applied courses often form part of university curricula, but their practical and long-term benefits only become clear afterwards. Having recently received such training in an interdisciplinary master’s programme, we provide our perspectives on our shared education. Through an online survey we include experiences of students and professionals in different fields. Most participants perceive their RS education as useful for their career, but express a need for more training at university level. Hands-on projects are considered the most effective learning method. Besides methodological knowledge, soft skills are clear gains, including problem solving, self-learning and finding individual solutions, and the ability to work in interdisciplinary teams. The largest identified gaps in current RS training concern the application regarding policy making, methodology and conservation. To successfully prepare students for a career, study programmes need to provide RS courses based on state-of-the-art methods, including programming, and interdisciplinary projects linking research and practice supported by a sound technical background.German Research Foundation (DFG), University of Bayreut

Assessment of Mining Extent and Expansion in Myanmar Based on Freely-Available Satellite Imagery

Using freely-available data and open-source software, we developed a remote sensing methodology to identify mining areas and assess recent mining expansion in Myanmar. Our country-wide analysis used Landsat 8 satellite data from a select number of mining areas to create a raster layer of potential mining areas. We used this layer to guide a systematic scan of freely-available fine-resolution imagery, such as Google Earth, in order to digitize likely mining areas. During this process, each mining area was assigned a ranking indicating our certainty in correct identification of the mining land use. Finally, we identified areas of recent mining expansion based on the change in albedo, or brightness, between Landsat images from 2002 and 2015. We identified 90,041 ha of potential mining areas in Myanmar, of which 58% (52,312 ha) was assigned high certainty, 29% (26,251 ha) medium certainty, and 13% (11,478 ha) low certainty. Of the high-certainty mining areas, 62% of bare ground was disturbed (had a large increase in albedo) since 2002. This four-month project provides the first publicly-available database of mining areas in Myanmar, and it demonstrates an approach for large-scale assessment of mining extent and expansion based on freely-available data

Literature search: Remote sensing in conservation and ecology

<p>This file provides the raw data of a literature search that was conducted to demonstate the growing relevance and rapid devleopment of remote sensing in relation to conservation and ecology within academia. The search was performed using Scopus, a database of peer-reviewed literature, using the string "remote sensing" AND ["conservation" OR "ecology"].</p

Boxplot comparing mean canopy cover as measured by Hansen et al. (2013) for intact and degraded forests in different forest regions of Myanmar between 2002 and 2014.

<p>Northern Sagaing = mostly mixed deciduous and evergreen forest; Southern Sagaing = mixed deciduous and dry dipterocarp forest; Tanintharyi = tropical evergreen forest. (A) Canopy cover values for intact forest; (B) Canopy Cover values for degraded forest; (C) Location of Landsat tiles used for comparison.</p

Losing a jewel—Rapid declines in Myanmar’s intact forests from 2002-2014

<div><p>New and rapid political and economic changes in Myanmar are increasing the pressures on the country’s forests. Yet, little is known about the past and current condition of these forests and how fast they are declining. We mapped forest cover in Myanmar through a consortium of international organizations and environmental non-governmental groups, using freely-available public domain data and open source software tools. We used Landsat satellite imagery to assess the condition and spatial distribution of Myanmar’s intact and degraded forests with special focus on changes in intact forest between 2002 and 2014. We found that forests cover 42,365,729 ha or 63% of Myanmar, making it one of the most forested countries in the region. However, severe logging, expanding plantations, and degradation pose increasing threats. Only 38% of the country’s forests can be considered intact with canopy cover >80%. Between 2002 and 2014, intact forests declined at a rate of 0.94% annually, totaling more than 2 million ha forest loss. Losses can be extremely high locally and we identified 9 townships as forest conversion hotspots. We also delineated 13 large (>100,000 ha) and contiguous intact forest landscapes, which are dispersed across Myanmar. The Northern Forest Complex supports four of these landscapes, totaling over 6.1 million ha of intact forest, followed by the Southern Forest Complex with three landscapes, comprising 1.5 million ha. These remaining contiguous forest landscape should have high priority for protection. Our project demonstrates how open source data and software can be used to develop and share critical information on forests when such data are not readily available elsewhere. We provide all data, code, and outputs freely via the internet at (for scripts: <a href="https://bitbucket.org/rsbiodiv/" target="_blank">https://bitbucket.org/rsbiodiv/</a>; for the data: <a href="http://geonode.themimu.info/layers/geonode:myan_lvl2_smoothed_dec2015_resamp" target="_blank">http://geonode.themimu.info/layers/geonode:myan_lvl2_smoothed_dec2015_resamp</a>)</p></div

Remaining and lost intact forest (ha) for Myanmar townships between 2002 and 2014.

<p>Remaining and lost intact forest (ha) for Myanmar townships between 2002 and 2014.</p