Remote Sensing for EU Habitats Directive Application
A special issue of Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2019) | Viewed by 3994
Special Issue Editors
Interests: remote sensing; environmental modeling; wetlands; image analysis
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The Habitat Directive (92/43/EEC) determines the rules for plant biodiversity conservation in Europe, with the requirements for natural habitats’ conservation status being updated every 6 years since 1995. However, the major current issues for its applicability in each member state are still related to: (1) The definition and interpretation of the 233 habitat types listed in Annex I of the Habitat Directive, and (2) the mapping of habitat types on national coverage.
Recent advances in numerical analysis of vegetation data and ecological modeling, as well as the extensive availability of Earth Observation data with high temporal and spatial resolutions, provide a promising avenue for an operational implementation of the Habitat Directive. On one hand, predictive modeling of plant species and communities is an approach rapidly increasing in popularity in European biogeographical regions. On the other hand, new low-cost or free satellite time-series with high spatial and spectral resolutions, such as Sentinel-1/2 data, are available to monitor natural habitats. Links between remote sensing and ecological research communities are now strengthening with the integration of reference vegetation databases (European Vegetation Archive, VegFrance, etc.) in remote-sensing-based models (machine learning classification, fuzzy approach, optimal transport approach, time-series classifiers, etc.).
In this context, the French Ministry of the Environment launched the CarHAB program, which aims to map terrestrial natural habitats over national territory using reference vegetation data and Earth Observation images. In this Special Issue, we invite original contributions in one or more of the topics below. Both specific cases and comparative studies carried out in European regions and their overseas territories are encouraged. Typical papers are expected to address the following topics:
- Mapping and monitoring of habitat conservation status;
- Integrating satellite data in ecosystem modeling;
- Multiscale analysis (plant species/vegetal associations/habitats/vegetation series);
- Development of vegetation typologies;
- Reproducibility of satellite-based classification models;
- Integrating vegetation reference data in satellite images classification (unbalanced classes, weak sampling, temporal shifts, etc.).
Prof. Laurence Hubert-Moy
Dr. Sébastien Rapinel
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
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-blind 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.
Keywords
- Plant communities
- Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs)
- Ecological Modelling
- Big data
- Uncertainty
- National mapping
- Change detection
- Long-term monitoring
- Remote sensing
- Satellite time-series
- Conservation status
- Natura 2000
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
