1
© The Author(s) 2020
J. Cavender-Bares et al. (eds.), Remote Sensing of Plant Biodiversity,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33157-3_1
Chapter 1
The Use of Remote Sensing to Enhance
Biodiversity Monitoring and Detection:
A Critical Challenge for the Twenty-First
Century
Jeannine Cavender-Bares, John A. Gamon, and Philip A. Townsend
1.1 Introduction
Improved detection and monitoring of biodiversity is critical at a time when Earth’s
biodiversity loss due to human activities is accelerating at an unprecedented rate.
We face the largest loss of biodiversity in human history, a loss which has been
called the “sixth mass extinction” (Leakey 1996; Kolbert 2014), given that its magnitude is in proportion to past extinction episodes in Earth history detectable from
the fossil record. International efforts to conserve biodiversity (United Nations
2011) and to develop an assessment process to document changes in the status and
trends of biodiversity globally through the Intergovernmental Science-Policy
Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (Díaz et al. 2015) have raised
awareness about the critical need for continuous monitoring of biodiversity at multiple spatial scales across the globe. Biodiversity itself—the variation in life found
among ecosystems and organisms at any level of biological organization—cannot
practically be observed everywhere. However, if habitats, functional traits, trait
diversity, and the spatial turnover of plant functions can be remotely sensed, the
potential exists to globally inventory the diversity of habitats and traits associated
with terrestrial biodiversity. To face this challenge, there have been recent calls for
J. Cavender-Bares (*)
Department of Ecology, Evolution & Behavior, University of Minnesota,
Saint Paul, MN, USA
e-mail: cavender@umn.edu
J. A. Gamon
Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
CALMIT, School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska – Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA
P. A. Townsend
Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA
© The Author(s) 2020
J. Cavender-Bares et al. (eds.), Remote Sensing of Plant Biodiversity,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33157-3_1
Chapter 1
The Use of Remote Sensing to Enhance
Biodiversity Monitoring and Detection:
A Critical Challenge for the Twenty-First
Century
Jeannine Cavender-Bares, John A. Gamon, and Philip A. Townsend
1.1 Introduction
Improved detection and monitoring of biodiversity is critical at a time when Earth’s
biodiversity loss due to human activities is accelerating at an unprecedented rate.
We face the largest loss of biodiversity in human history, a loss which has been
called the “sixth mass extinction” (Leakey 1996; Kolbert 2014), given that its magnitude is in proportion to past extinction episodes in Earth history detectable from
the fossil record. International efforts to conserve biodiversity (United Nations
2011) and to develop an assessment process to document changes in the status and
trends of biodiversity globally through the Intergovernmental Science-Policy
Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (Díaz et al. 2015) have raised
awareness about the critical need for continuous monitoring of biodiversity at multiple spatial scales across the globe. Biodiversity itself—the variation in life found
among ecosystems and organisms at any level of biological organization—cannot
practically be observed everywhere. However, if habitats, functional traits, trait
diversity, and the spatial turnover of plant functions can be remotely sensed, the
potential exists to globally inventory the diversity of habitats and traits associated
with terrestrial biodiversity. To face this challenge, there have been recent calls for
J. Cavender-Bares (*)
Department of Ecology, Evolution & Behavior, University of Minnesota,
Saint Paul, MN, USA
e-mail: cavender@umn.edu
J. A. Gamon
Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
CALMIT, School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska – Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA
P. A. Townsend
Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA