Remote Sensing for Wetland and Waterbird Habitat Conservation

Dear Colleagues,

Remote sensing technologies have revolutionized our capacity to monitor, assess, and conserve wetland ecosystems and their associated waterbird communities at unprecedented spatial and temporal scales. The diversity of available sensors enables the comprehensive characterization of wetland extent, vegetation structure, hydrological dynamics, and habitat suitability. Simultaneously, advances in satellite tracking technologies allow researchers to follow individual waterbirds throughout their annual cycles. The integration of these complementary approaches offers extraordinary potential for understanding wetland–waterbird relationships. When satellite tracking data revealing where waterbirds occur is combined with remotely sensed environmental data characterizing habitat conditions, we gain powerful insights into species’ habitat requirements, the drivers of habitat selection, and the impacts of environmental change on population dynamics.

This Special Issue invites the submission of original research articles and reviews that advance the science and applications of Remote Sensing for Wetland and Waterbird Habitat Conservation. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Multi-source data fusion: Integrating optical, SAR, LiDAR, and thermal remote sensing for enhanced wetland characterization and waterbird habitat mapping.
• Machine learning and deep learning applications: Novel approaches for wetland classification, change detection, and habitat suitability modeling.
• Satellite tracking and remote sensing integration: Studies combining satellite tracking data with remotely sensed environmental variables to elucidate habitat selection, migration connectivity, and responses to environmental change.
• Time-series analysis: Long-term monitoring of wetland dynamics, land use/land cover change, and associated impacts on waterbird habitat suitability.
• UAV-based applications: High-resolution mapping of breeding sites, foraging habitats, and micro-habitat characteristics.
• Climate change impacts: Assessing drought effects, sea-level rise, and hydrological alterations on wetland ecosystems and waterbird populations.
• Transboundary conservation: Remote sensing applications in international wetland complexes and flyway-scale conservation planning.
• Emerging technologies: Digital twins, AI foundation models, and real-time monitoring systems for adaptive wetland management.
• Ecosystem services assessment: Quantifying wetland services supporting waterbird populations, and evaluating conservation intervention effectiveness.

Dr. Dong Li
Dr. Houlang Duan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the Special Issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Remote Sensing is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.