Periodic Reporting for period 4 - BIOSPACE (Monitoring Biodiversity from Space)
Período documentado: 2024-03-01 hasta 2024-08-31
Life, with all its diversity, is in crisis. As humans increasingly encroach on biologically complex semi-natural landscapes, no organism, place or ecological function remains unaffected. While all 196 parties (195 countries plus the European Union) to the UN Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) have agreed to monitor the state of biodiversity, the currently available methods to do so leave much to be desired.
The key conclusions from this action are that:
1) For the first time, the biodiversity of forest soil and tree leaf canopy have been spatially predicted and upscaled for operational management at multiple scales from local to global.
2) Cutting edge methodologies were developed to predict biodiversity over large continental areas using environmental DNA (eDNA) and next-generation satellite hyperspectral and LiDAR remote sensing, thereby synthesizing the complexity of forest biodiversity at a fine grained scale.
3) There is a deeper scientific understanding of how biodiversity is impacted by anthropogenic pressure as well as by natural environmental gradients
4) Ecosystem functions based on genetic (eDNA) profiles were expressed through foliar and soil chemistry, plant structural traits, and environmental variables, by parameterizing and interpolating next-generation satellite images.
5) The Action increased understanding of how biodiversity is affected by environmental gradients and anthropogenic pressure.
6) The BIOSPACE project shaped policy dialogue at EU and international levels.
The key conclusions from this action are that:
1) For the first time, the biodiversity of forest soil and tree leaf canopy have been spatially predicted and upscaled for operational management at multiple scales from local to global.
2) Cutting edge methodologies were developed to predict biodiversity over large continental areas using environmental DNA (eDNA) and next-generation satellite hyperspectral and LiDAR remote sensing, thereby synthesizing the complexity of forest biodiversity at a fine grained scale.
3) There is a deeper scientific understanding of how biodiversity is impacted by anthropogenic pressure as well as by natural environmental gradients
4) Ecosystem functions based on genetic (eDNA) profiles were expressed through foliar and soil chemistry, plant structural traits, and environmental variables, by parameterizing and interpolating next-generation satellite images.
5) The Action increased understanding of how biodiversity is affected by environmental gradients and anthropogenic pressure.
6) The BIOSPACE project shaped policy dialogue at EU and international levels.
The BIOSPACE project commenced with a full complement of appointments with a kickoff meeting in January 2020, just a month before the COVID pandemic shut down laboratory and field work in February 2020. We gained special permissions for limited field works in the Netherlands and Germnay in the summers of 2020 and 2021, as well as access to laboratories under strict quarantine conditions. However, despite these constraints and restrictions, we persevered with major achievements (see also above sub-section).
Key achievements included:
i) Developed new methods for integrating remote sensing (Image spectroscopy) with environmental (e)DNA and submitted articles on combining RS and eDNA for the spatial prediction of the complexities of biodiversity.
ii) We linked the technology with policy and industry requirements for monitoring the environment in general and specifically biodiversity. We published in 2021 a Nature (Nature Ecology and Evolution) paper on which Essential Biodiversity Variables to prioritize from a policy perspective, with an emphasis on remote sensing and eDNA.The BIOSPACE project shaped policy dialogue and impacted the standardization of terms such as Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) as well as prioritising the ongoing development of remote sensing biodiversity products (Skidmore et al., 2021), as well as an EU policy document “Earth Observation in support of EU policies for biodiversity (Camia, 2023)", and a major ESA and EU conference series has recognised BIOSPACE as a new field of emerging research for which ESA sought permission to use the BIOSPACE name: https://biospace25.esa.int/.
iii) Current government policy has been guided without knowledge of the rapidly developing and extremely acid forest soils in the Netherlands caused by intensification of animal husbandry, because current field soil pH data sampling (e.g. EU LUCAS soil data) as well as poorly calibrated atmospheric nitrogen deposition models do not cover these extensive Natura 2000 areas (Skidmore et al., 2024).
iv) We were in active communication and contact with industry partners and managers. These discussions secured access to laboratory resources, new contacts for field sites and assistance with field work data collection, developed contacts and valorized results, and integrated outputs into management.
v) 26 ISI papers have been published in high ranking ISI journals, with another approximately 20 in preparation or submitted.
vi) We combined statistical and machine learning technologies in novel methods to support the key inter-disciplinary achievements.
Key achievements included:
i) Developed new methods for integrating remote sensing (Image spectroscopy) with environmental (e)DNA and submitted articles on combining RS and eDNA for the spatial prediction of the complexities of biodiversity.
ii) We linked the technology with policy and industry requirements for monitoring the environment in general and specifically biodiversity. We published in 2021 a Nature (Nature Ecology and Evolution) paper on which Essential Biodiversity Variables to prioritize from a policy perspective, with an emphasis on remote sensing and eDNA.The BIOSPACE project shaped policy dialogue and impacted the standardization of terms such as Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) as well as prioritising the ongoing development of remote sensing biodiversity products (Skidmore et al., 2021), as well as an EU policy document “Earth Observation in support of EU policies for biodiversity (Camia, 2023)", and a major ESA and EU conference series has recognised BIOSPACE as a new field of emerging research for which ESA sought permission to use the BIOSPACE name: https://biospace25.esa.int/.
iii) Current government policy has been guided without knowledge of the rapidly developing and extremely acid forest soils in the Netherlands caused by intensification of animal husbandry, because current field soil pH data sampling (e.g. EU LUCAS soil data) as well as poorly calibrated atmospheric nitrogen deposition models do not cover these extensive Natura 2000 areas (Skidmore et al., 2024).
iv) We were in active communication and contact with industry partners and managers. These discussions secured access to laboratory resources, new contacts for field sites and assistance with field work data collection, developed contacts and valorized results, and integrated outputs into management.
v) 26 ISI papers have been published in high ranking ISI journals, with another approximately 20 in preparation or submitted.
vi) We combined statistical and machine learning technologies in novel methods to support the key inter-disciplinary achievements.
The challenge was to combine two cutting-edge scientific disciplines – we therefore had to innovate new techniques of next-generation satellite remote sensing analysis and eDNA profiling – to generate synoptic terrestrial biodiversity metrics of taxonomy and function at a fine resolution.The integration of advanced hyperspectral and LiDAR remote sensing data with eDNA profiling exponentially increased our ability to capture whole-ecosystem biodiversity metrics, offering insights into the rapid measurement of ecosystem function and ecosystem structure uninhibited by taxonomic or geographical boundaries. This innovative science allowed for the identification and quantification of fundamental ecological strategies and how ecological communities respond to biotic conditions, competition, stress, and environmental change. For example, a significant achievement was showing there is a core microbiome for all forest tree species examined, and that phyllosphere community composition varied with elevation as well as tree diameter, breast height, leaf-specific traits (e.g. chlorophyll and P content) and leaf water content. Our project provides for the first time convincing evidence that the field of biodiversity can further develop through the combination of eDNA profiles and next-generation remote sensing broadening and deepening understanding of ecological function and structure. For example, we combined the Essential Biodiversity Variable class Genetic Composition with Ecosystem Structure and Ecosystem Function – a combination which has not been earlier attempted.
A significant unexpected result showed that phyllosphere (leaf) and soil sphere-specific communities in European temperate forests, are characterized by little connectivity. Another scientific achievement was showing there is a core microbiome for all tree species examined, and that phyllosphere community composition varied with elevation as well as tree diameter, breast height, leaf-specific traits (e.g. chlorophyll and P content) and leaf water content. We further showed that phyllosphere (leaf) and soil sphere-specific communities in European forests, are characterized by little connectivity. In the Netherlands, where the impact of farming on biodiversity has been politically and economically contentious, we demonstrated with our data that the situation was unexpectedly much worse for forest soils in Natura 2000 areas, with forest soil acidity rapidly declining from an average pH of approximately 4.5 to the astonishingly high acidity average of pH = 3.2. Finally, an unplanned outcome of our Action was the emerging importance of biodiversity to EU and European Space Agency policy, and consequently an enthusiastic take up of our technology as well as invitations from organisations to cooperate.
A significant unexpected result showed that phyllosphere (leaf) and soil sphere-specific communities in European temperate forests, are characterized by little connectivity. Another scientific achievement was showing there is a core microbiome for all tree species examined, and that phyllosphere community composition varied with elevation as well as tree diameter, breast height, leaf-specific traits (e.g. chlorophyll and P content) and leaf water content. We further showed that phyllosphere (leaf) and soil sphere-specific communities in European forests, are characterized by little connectivity. In the Netherlands, where the impact of farming on biodiversity has been politically and economically contentious, we demonstrated with our data that the situation was unexpectedly much worse for forest soils in Natura 2000 areas, with forest soil acidity rapidly declining from an average pH of approximately 4.5 to the astonishingly high acidity average of pH = 3.2. Finally, an unplanned outcome of our Action was the emerging importance of biodiversity to EU and European Space Agency policy, and consequently an enthusiastic take up of our technology as well as invitations from organisations to cooperate.