Communicating geospatial information on change to diverse communities of stakeholders: disturbance mapping in SW European forests.

Abstract:

Land cover change occurs at multiple scales and affects communities and ecosystems differently. Detecting and communicating change, but also to characterize it and the underlying processes is a challenge that requires an interdisciplinary approach and data from multiple, often heterogeneous sources.

Forest disturbance offers a good example of multi-layered co-occurring change at multiple scales and affecting stakeholders in different ways. Biotic agents, wildfires, storm damage, and anthropogenic actions are widespread in SW European temperate forests with short and long-term impacts over the resilience of ecosystems and communities alike.

In this work, we detail how shared problems are perceived by different stakeholder categories, and the steps taken to translate the needs into system requirements and product specifications. In a stakeholder-driven bottom-up process, a set of solutions were developed and tested using multiple data sources, both new and existing.

Data from field (test sites) and remote (satellite, Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems, airborne hyperspectral) sources as well as periodic surveys to stakeholders were combined to deliver a set of new and integrated information products. These include the distribution of areas affected by key biotic agents (e.g. Pinewood Nematode), forestry activities, land cover, burnt areas, and weather data over a broad test region in central Portugal.

A comparison of different data distribution solutions including proprietary and open platforms was also conducted.

These are required steps towards a scalable bottom-up framework for a sustainable and information-driven landscape management solution capable of including new datasets and requirements for an evolving natural and social environment.