On the Contribution of Remote Sensing to DOPA, a Digital Observatory for Protected Areas

The Digital Observatory for Protected Areas (DOPA) is a biodiversity information system currently developed as a set of interoperable web services at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in collaboration with other international organizations, including GBIF, UNEP-WCMC, Birdlife International and RSPB. DOPA is not only designed to assess the state and pressure of Protected Areas (PAs) and to prioritize them accordingly, in order to support decision making and fund allocation processes, but it is also conceived as a monitoring and modeling service. To capture the dynamics of spatio-temporal changes in habitats and anthropogenic pressure on PAs, the automatic collection and processing of remote sensing data are processes at the heart of the system. In particular, DOPA uses information from EumetCAST and SpotVGT to compute environmental trends and detect anomalies every 10 days. Anthropogenic threats are also currently assessed through the analysis of agricultural pressure, population growth and habitat fragmentation around the protected areas. Fire activity in sub-Saharan protected areas which is derived from the MODIS fire products (active fires and burned areas) provide further support to park managers as well as to experts working for conservation and natural resource management. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the variety of uses of remote sensing data by the DOPA, the integration with other data sources, the practical implementation according to an architecture grounded in international initiatives such as GEOSS, GSDI and INSPIRE, and applications in monitoring and in ecological forecasting through e-Habitat, DOPAs¿ habitat modeling service.JRC.H.3-Global environement monitorin

Drivers of extinction risk in African mammals: the interplay of distribution state, human pressure, conservation response and species biology

Although conservation intervention has reversed the decline of some species, our success is outweighed by a much larger number of species moving towards extinction. Extinction risk modelling can identify correlates of risk and species not yet recognized to be threatened. Here, we use machine learning models to identify correlates of extinction risk in African terrestrial mammals using a set of variables belonging to four classes: species distribution state, human pressures, conservation response and species biology. We derived information on distribution state and human pressure from satellite- borne imagery. Variables in all four classes were identified as important predictors of extinction risk, and interactions were observed among variables in different classes (e.g. level of protection, human threats, species distribution ranges). Species biology had a key role in mediating the effect of external variables. The model was 90% accurate in classifying extinction risk status of species, but in a few cases the observed and modelled extinction risk mismatched. Species in this condition might suffer from an incorrect classification of extinction risk (hence require reassessment). An increased availability of satellite imagery combined with improved resolution and classification accuracy of the resulting maps will play a progressively greater role in conservation monitoring.JRC.H.5-Land Resources Managemen

Uncertainties in tree cover maps of Sub-Saharan Africa and their implications for measuring progress towards CBD Aichi Targets

The growing access to Earth Observations and processing capabilities have stimulated the production of global and regional products that are commonly used to assess tree-covered habitats and their changes. The popularity of these products has led to their use for defining baselines and to assess progress in conserving natural habitats, in particular in the context of the conservation targets to 2020 set by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. In this paper we reviewed three tree cover products commonly used over Sub-Saharan Africa: (i) MODIS Vegetation Continuous Field percent tree cover map, (ii) Global Forest Change map and (iii) TREES product. Over a systematic sample of 2045 map subsets, each having a size of 10x10 km², we calculated the extent of tree cover and tree-cover change from each product. Our statistical and spatial comparison shows significant discrepancies between the three products, which lead to uncertainties when assessing tree cover across varying ecosystems. These differences are highest in habitats where tree cover is fragmented or reaches medium density levels (open forests) and overlap with areas of high economic development potential, where habitat changes are likely to occur in the close future. We discuss these findings in the context of using these remotely sensed tree cover products to support current global biodiversity conservation policies.JRC.D.6-Knowledge for Sustainable Development and Food Securit

Uncertainties in tree cover maps of Sub-Saharan Africa and their implications for measuring progress towards CBD Aichi Targets

The growing access to Earth Observations and processing capabilities have stimulated the production of global and regional products that are commonly used to assess tree-covered habitats and their changes. The popularity of these products has led to their use for defining baselines and to assess progress in conserving natural habitats, in particular, in the context of the conservation targets to 2020 set by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. In this paper, we reviewed three tree cover products commonly used over Sub-Saharan Africa: (1) MODIS Vegetation Continuous Field percent tree cover map, (2) Global Forest Change map and (3) TREES product. Over a systematic sample of 2045 map subsets, each having a size of 10 × 10 km2, we calculated the extent and change of tree cover from each product for the period between 2000 and 2010. Our statistical and spatial comparison shows noticeable discrepancies between the three products, which lead to uncertainties when assessing tree cover across varying ecosystems. These differences are highest in habitats where tree cover is fragmented or reaches medium density levels and overlap with areas of high economic development potential, where habitat changes are likely to occur in the near future. We discuss these findings in the context of using these remotely sensed tree cover products to support current global biodiversity conservation policies.</p

Science-policy dialogue for managing land use change: bridges and barriers

Extensive land use change over the last decades has altered the global environment at unprecedented rates, with severe consequences for biodiversity and ecosystems’ resilience and capacity to sustain human needs. The need for effective policies and strategies that manage ecosystem change, protect nature and local livelihoods is therefore evident. More often than not, these policies are driven by top-down approaches and are implemented differently across scales, usually not adapted to the local /regional /national level needs. Due to the high dependence of people on natural resources, the need to implement participatory approaches to land use management emerges. The implementation of these management strategies should be based on scientific and empirical evidence, while addressing policy requirements. However, few are the cases where all these aspects are taken into account and mostly the dialogue among scientific community, policy makers and local land users is a utopia. Based on an analysis of past examples we will give a first overview on the “barriers” and propose “bridges” towards a successful dialogue among the three main actors described above, on the field of land use change management for nature protection. Through round table discussions, each group of participants will address the issues of scale, terminology and technology and will identify how these should be taken into account to facilitate the above-mentioned dialogue. The expected outcome will be a peer-reviewed publication discussing the challenges and the way forward to improve the dialogue among these actors. This peer-reviewed publication will be prepared by a group of participants consolidated during the workshop. Our workshop will contribute to the GLP Conference thematic 2: “Local land users in a tele-connected world: the role of human decision making on land use as both a driver and response to global environmental change”, by considering the link between land use and the decision making process in the socio-ecological system structure. Statements and Questions - How does spatial, temporal and administrative scale affect the different steps of the decision making process, from data collection and analysis to result generation and their use to guide policy? - How does knowledge and terminology used among the different actors during the decision making process impact their communication and mutual understanding?JRC.H.5-Land Resources Managemen

3D motion capture system for assessing patient motion during Fugl‐Meyer stroke rehabilitation testing

The authors introduce a novel marker‐less multi‐camera setup that allows easy synchronisation between 3D cameras as well as a novel pose estimation method that is calculated on the fly based on the human body being tracked, and thus requires no calibration session nor special calibration equipment. They show high accuracy in both calibration and data merging and is on par with equipment‐based calibration. They deduce several insights and practical guidelines for the camera setup and for the preferred data merging methods. Finally, they present a test case that computerises the Fugl‐Meyer stroke rehabilitation protocol using the authors’ multi‐sensor capture system. They conducted a Helsinki‐approved research in a hospital in which they collected data on stroke patients and healthy subjects using their multi‐camera system. Spatio‐temporal features were extracted from the acquired data and machine learning‐based evaluations were applied. Results showed that patients and healthy subjects can be correctly classified at a rate of above 90%. Furthermore, they show that the most significant features in the classification are strongly correlated with the Fugl‐Meyer guidelines. This demonstrates the feasibility of a low‐cost, flexible and non‐invasive motion capture system that can potentially be operated in a home setting

Monitoring land cover changes in African protected areas in the 21st century

Africa is home to some of the most vulnerable natural ecosystems and species on the planet. Around 7000 protected areas seek to safeguard the continent’s rich biodiversity, but many of them face increasing management challenges. Human disturbances permeating into the parks affect directly and indirectly the ecological functioning and integrity of protected areas. With the envisaged expansion of the protected area network and the further expected population and economical growth, the competition between nature conservation and resources demands are likely to exacerbate. The regular monitoring of land cover in and around protected areas can support the timely detection of conservation conflicts. In this paper, we analyse the use of the annual time series of MODIS land cover (MODIS LC) type product between 2003 and 2009 to monitor land cover changes at continental scale. We use the mean classification confidence and change frequency as indicators to assess the temporal consistency of the MODIS LC classifier for accurately monitoring land cover changes. We discuss the perspectives for a regular and automated monitoring of land cover changes in African protected areasJRC.H.5-Land Resources Managemen

Anthropogenic overprints on natural coastal aeolian sediments: a study from the periphery of ancient Caesarea, Israel

Near surface sediment stratigraphy associated with ancient human settlements can potentially reveal the complex history of human impact. This study explores such impacts in the area around ancient Caesarea, a well-known Roman to Early Islam period metropolis in the central coastal plain of Israel, with analysis of human-induced macro-features and microscopic remains found in buried sediments. We retrieved these anthropogenic markers through boreholes and analysed them with sedimentological and radiometric dating techniques, integrated with archaeological and historical records. The analysis identified a refuse deposit comprising two grey loamy sand artefact-bearing facies bedded between late Holocene aeolian sand. One anthropogenic facies represents an urban garbage mound and the other may be an agricultural pedo-sediment, both dated to the Roman to Early Islamic periods. The grey pedo-sediment, contained in three boreholes in the lowlands south of Caesarea, covers an area of at least 1.4 km2. Apparently improved in terms of soil fertility, we postulate that the pedo-sediment is the outcome of composting enrichment of the soil for agriculture. Taking advantage of the high coastal freshwater aquifer in the study area, we propose that the pedo-sediment represents buried agricultural plots. The comprehensive, multi-disciplinary approach demonstrated in this study of cored sediments outside ancient human settlements is among the few in the coastal area of the southern Levant. It could be relevant to other archaeological sites in the Mediterranean and elsewhere around the world

Anthropometric and metabolic characterization of study samples.

<p>Quantitative variables are presented as median (interquartile range). Obesity is defined as BMI SDS>1.88.</p><p>Anthropometric and metabolic characterization of study samples.</p