Satellite remote sensing for biodiversity conservation: exemplary

BOOK REVIEW

Satellite remote sensing for biodiversity conservation:

exemplary practices and lessons learned

A. K. Leidner, G. M. Buchanan (eds.), Satellite Remote Sensing for Conservation

Action: Case Studies from Aquatic and Terrestrial Ecosystems. Cambridge

University Press, Cambridge, UK. 2018, 372 pp.

Peichao Gao

Changxiu Cheng

Changqing Song

Received: 10 June 2019 / Accepted: 8 July 2019

Ó Springer Nature B.V. 2019

Biodiversity is the very basis of human existence and

sustainable development on Earth. It not only provides

us with the basic necessities such as air, food, and

water, but also serves as fundamental building blocks

for healthy ecosystems. However, biodiversity is

facing unprecedented threats. According to the global

biodiversity assessment released in May 2019 by the

Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodi-

versity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), the number

of species that are now threatened with extinction is

greater than ever before in history; these threatened

species are becoming extinct at a faster rate; current

global response to this biodiversity crisis is still

insufﬁcient; and transformative change s are critically

needed (IPBES 2019).

One technologically transformative change may be

the employment of satellite remote sensing for biodi-

versity conservation. Data collection is currently being

carried out by more than 700 earth-observation

satellites according to the Satellite Database of the

Union of Concerned Scientists (2019), while data

processing is continuously accelerated by both soft-

ware and hardware development. This fact makes it

effective and efﬁcient to monitor the Earth’s surface in

a spatially and temporally exhaustive manner, making

satellite remot e sensing an amazing opportunity for

biodiversity conservation. The problem now for

conservation practitioners is how to exploit this

opportunity, given that relatively few have an aca-

demic background or practical experience in remote

sensing.

The book Satellite Remote Sensing for Conserva-

tion Action: Case Studies from Aquatic and Terrestrial

Ecosystems is a bold effort to address this problem.

The two editors, who wrote two out of the 10

chapters of the book, are among the pioneers and

leading experts in remote sensing application in

identifying conservation problems and solutions. The

other chapters were contributed by 32 leading

researchers in conservation remote sensing from

Australia, Italy, Spain, UK, USA, and Niger.

Satellite Remote Sensing for Conservation Action

can be divided into three parts, namely Chapters 1–2,

3–8, and 9–10. The ﬁrst part presents a necessary and

excellent background for readers from either the

conservation or remote sensing disciplines. Chapter 1

provides a brief but comprehensive background on

biodiversity conservation. It also explains why remote

sensing is of interest and can be of use to conservation

P. Gao  C. Cheng (&)  C. Song

State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and

Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University,

Beijing 100875, China

e-mail: [email protected]

P. Gao

e-mail: [email protected]

C. Song

e-mail: [email protected]

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https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-019-00874-z

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practitioners. Then, Chapter 2 follows up with some

essential details of remote sensing, including its

development history, basic concepts, and functional

mechanisms. Because one major barrier to the appli-

cation of remote sensing lies in data accessibility,

Chapter 2 tries to summarize key remote sensing data

products (including raw data and higher-level prod-

ucts) and web sources.

The second part contains six case-study chap-

ters and is the highlight of Satellite Remote Sensing for

Conservation Action. The six case studies cover both

aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems from aroun d the

world. The ﬁrst case study illustrates the role that

satellite remote sensing has played in the conservation

of East Asia’s coastal wetlands, speciﬁcally the tidal

ﬂats in the Yellow Sea. A practical method was

developed to achieve consist ent time-series maps of

the tidal ﬂats, using the 30-m resolution, free Landsat

remote sensing data archive. The second case study

documents the quantiﬁcation of the quality and loss of

chimpanzee forest habitat in Africa. Satellite remote

sensing data delivered at different levels of processing

were used, such as Landsat ETM? band 5 and

Landsat-derived per cent canopy cover. The third case

study demonstrates the usefulness of satellite remote

sensing for ﬁre monitoring in African protected areas.

Two satellite remote sensing-based tools were devel-

oped for incorporating the monitoring information

into ﬁre management. The fourth case study proposes

a satellite remote sensing-based solution for monitor-

ing and assessing ecosystem functioning, such as the

dynamics of primary productivity and water ﬂuxes.

The solution was successfully applied to the Don

ana

National Park of Spain. The ﬁfth case study introduces

a novel system in the Idaho Department of Fish and

Game, a wildlife management agency, for predicting

mule deer harvests at a regional scale. The prediction

is performed in real time by using satellite remote

sensing information on environmental and climate

conditions. The last case study reports a near-real-time

tool for predicting blue whale occurrence and densities

based on satellite telemetry data for blue whales and

some selected environmental variables such as sea

surface temperature and height. All the selected

environmental variables have ecological links to blue

whales and were derived from satellite remote sensing

images.

The third part (i.e., Chapters 9–10) provides some

case study-independent and case study-dependent

perspectives on satellite remote sensing for conserva-

tion action. Chapter 9 reviews the use of satellite

remote sensing by conservation organizations, espe-

cially Conservation International, and discusse s the

recent challenges and future opportunities of conser-

vation remote sensing. By contras t, Chapter 10 is a

case study-dependent discussion. It summaries the six

case studies of the book, highlighting their common

themes, lessons learned, and implications for the

future.

The distinctive feature of the book is the emphasis

on exemplary practices and lessons learned. As can be

seen from the book’ structure, the six case studies form

its core. In each case study, the authors p resent not

only their conservation problem and scientiﬁc meth-

ods but also technological practices and lessons

learned. The practices and lessons are often absent

from scientiﬁc journal and conference papers, but they

are signiﬁcantly important in practically applying

remote sensing for conservatio n action. The lessons

can also be found in the last chapter, which were

learned by the editor s from the case studies. All these

facts make the book complementary to scientiﬁc

journal and conference papers.

The book demonstrates the great and still-increas-

ing importance of remote sensing for biological

conservation. Indeed, biodiversity can be better

investigated by using remote sensing (Rocchini et al.

2018), and there are at least ten ways remote sensing

can contribute to conservation (Rose et al. 2015).

However, it should be pointed out that remote sensing

is not limited to spaceborne, namely the satellite

remote sensing illustrated in the book. Remote sensing

can also be airborne or ground-based, such as Light

Detection and Ranging (LiDAR). In some biodiversity

conservation cases, airborne or ground-based remote

sensing may be more applicable because the sensed

data have a higher spatial resolution than that of

satellite (i.e., spaceborne) remote sensing (e.g., Getzin

et al. 2017). This resolution issue is also the reason

why a chapter author of the book found it impossible to

determine the local factors affecting ecosystem

resilience using only satellite remote sensing obser-

vations (p. 182).

Overall, Satellite Remote Sensing for Conservation

Action is a timely, instructive, and stimulating book on

biodiversity conservation practices. The book is of

great use to landscape ecologists in general and

conservation practitioners in particular. The only

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(minor) criticism worth making is that in Chapter 2,

the summary on key remote sensing data products is

not that comprehensive and the software tools for data

processing are not introduced for landscape ecologists.

Nevertheless, the book is readable by both the

conservationists who are unfamiliar with remote

sensing and those have a remote sensing background

but a limited understanding of biological conservation.

If conservation remote sensing is to be included in the

curriculum of conservation education, the book can be

used as a course book or a reference.

References

Getzin S, Fischer R, Knapp N, Huth A (2017) Using airborne

LiDAR to assess spatial heterogeneity in forest structure on

Mount Kilimanjaro. Landscape Ecol 32(9):1881–1894

IPBES (2019) Nature’s dangerous decline unprecedented; spe-

cies extinction rates accelerating. https://www.ipbes.net/

news/Media-Release-Global-Assessment. Accessed 20

May 2019

Rocchini D, Luque S, Pettorelli N, Bastin L, Doktor D, Faedi N,

Feilhauer H, Fe

ret JB, Foody GM, Gavish Y (2018) Mea-

suring b-diversity by remote sensing: a challenge for bio-

diversity monitoring. Methods Ecol Evol 9(8):1787–1798

Rose RA, Byler D, Eastman JR, Fleishman E, Geller G, Goetz S,

Guild L, Hamilton H, Hansen M, Headley R (2015) Ten

ways remote sensing can contribute to conservation.

Conserv Biol 29(2):350–359

Union of Concerned Scientists (2019) UCS Satellite Database.

https://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear-weapons/space-weapons/

satellite-database. Accessed 30 May 2019

Publisher’s Note Springer Nature remains neutral with

regard to jurisdictiona l claims in published maps and

institutional afﬁliations.

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