310
monitoring approaches are applied to record different characteristics of vegetation
(i.e., phylo-diversity; taxonomic, structural, functional, and trait diversity on different levels of biotic organization—molecular, genetic, individual, species, population, community, biome, ecosystem, and landscape). Different processes and drivers
influence the resilience of vegetation diversity (Fig. 13.1).
To record the status, stress, disturbances, and resource limitations in vegetation
diversity, we have to differentiate between two monitoring approaches: (i) in-situ
approaches, whereby the most important monitoring concepts are the phylogenetic
species concept (PSC, Eldredge and Cracraft 1980), the biological species concept
(BSC, Mayr 1942) and the morphological species concept (MSC, Mayr 1969) and
(ii) physically based approaches of remote sensing (RS) (Lausch et al. 2018b).
Unlike in-situ approaches, RS records the biochemical, biophysical, physiognomic,
morphological, structural, phenological, and functional characteristics of vegetation
diversity at all scales, from the molecular and individual plant levels to communities
and the entire ecosystem, based on the principles of image spectroscopy across the
electromagnetic spectrum from the visible to the microwave (Ustin and Gamon
2010). When compared with the traits approach of the MSC used by taxonomists,
RS approaches are not able to record the same number and characteristics of traits
or trait variations as the in-situ approaches (Homolová et al. 2013; Lausch
et al. 2016a).
Traits and trait variations that can be recorded using RS techniques are hereafter
referred to as spectral traits (ST), and the changes to their spectral characteristics
are referred to as spectral trait variations (STV). The overall approach is referred to
as the remote sensing-spectral trait/spectral trait variations (RS-ST/STV) concept
for monitoring biodiversity (Lausch et al. 2016b) as well as geodiversity (Lausch
et al. 2019) (Fig. 13.7).
Traits bridge the gap between in-situ and RS monitoring approaches. Species
traits have allowed us to take a completely new direction and to gain a better understanding of fundamental questions of status, stress, disturbances, resource limitations, and resilience in biodiversity—i.e., “why organisms live where they do and
how they will respond to environmental change” (Green et al. 2008). Therefore,
ecologists are increasingly focusing on traits rather than species to better understand
K. Schulz
University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Institute of Hydrology
and Water Management, Vienna, Austria
e-mail: karsten.schulz@boku.ac.at
J. Bumberger
Department of Monitoring and Explorations Technologies, Helmholtz Centre for
Environmental Research – UFZ, Leipzig, Germany
e-mail: jan.bumberger@ufz.de
D. J. King
Departement of Geography and Environmental Studies, Geomatics and Landscape Ecology
Lab, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada
e-mail: doug.king@carleton.ca
A. Lausch et al.
monitoring approaches are applied to record different characteristics of vegetation
(i.e., phylo-diversity; taxonomic, structural, functional, and trait diversity on different levels of biotic organization—molecular, genetic, individual, species, population, community, biome, ecosystem, and landscape). Different processes and drivers
influence the resilience of vegetation diversity (Fig. 13.1).
To record the status, stress, disturbances, and resource limitations in vegetation
diversity, we have to differentiate between two monitoring approaches: (i) in-situ
approaches, whereby the most important monitoring concepts are the phylogenetic
species concept (PSC, Eldredge and Cracraft 1980), the biological species concept
(BSC, Mayr 1942) and the morphological species concept (MSC, Mayr 1969) and
(ii) physically based approaches of remote sensing (RS) (Lausch et al. 2018b).
Unlike in-situ approaches, RS records the biochemical, biophysical, physiognomic,
morphological, structural, phenological, and functional characteristics of vegetation
diversity at all scales, from the molecular and individual plant levels to communities
and the entire ecosystem, based on the principles of image spectroscopy across the
electromagnetic spectrum from the visible to the microwave (Ustin and Gamon
2010). When compared with the traits approach of the MSC used by taxonomists,
RS approaches are not able to record the same number and characteristics of traits
or trait variations as the in-situ approaches (Homolová et al. 2013; Lausch
et al. 2016a).
Traits and trait variations that can be recorded using RS techniques are hereafter
referred to as spectral traits (ST), and the changes to their spectral characteristics
are referred to as spectral trait variations (STV). The overall approach is referred to
as the remote sensing-spectral trait/spectral trait variations (RS-ST/STV) concept
for monitoring biodiversity (Lausch et al. 2016b) as well as geodiversity (Lausch
et al. 2019) (Fig. 13.7).
Traits bridge the gap between in-situ and RS monitoring approaches. Species
traits have allowed us to take a completely new direction and to gain a better understanding of fundamental questions of status, stress, disturbances, resource limitations, and resilience in biodiversity—i.e., “why organisms live where they do and
how they will respond to environmental change” (Green et al. 2008). Therefore,
ecologists are increasingly focusing on traits rather than species to better understand
K. Schulz
University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Institute of Hydrology
and Water Management, Vienna, Austria
e-mail: karsten.schulz@boku.ac.at
J. Bumberger
Department of Monitoring and Explorations Technologies, Helmholtz Centre for
Environmental Research – UFZ, Leipzig, Germany
e-mail: jan.bumberger@ufz.de
D. J. King
Departement of Geography and Environmental Studies, Geomatics and Landscape Ecology
Lab, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada
e-mail: doug.king@carleton.ca
A. Lausch et al.