Bridging Satellite Productivity and Global Biodiversity: Unveiling Insights through Dynamic Habitat Indices

Conservation of global biodiversity requires scalable tools to monitor species richness patterns, and satellite remote sensing offers a promising avenue. However, a great challenge lies in identifying how best to translate satellite data into ecologically meaningful biodiversity metrics. This study...

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Main Authors: Kedi Liu, Chunyan Cao, Sicong Gao, Wei Yang, Xuanlong Ma
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2025-01-01
Series:Journal of Remote Sensing
Online Access:https://spj.science.org/doi/10.34133/remotesensing.0624
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author Kedi Liu
Chunyan Cao
Sicong Gao
Wei Yang
Xuanlong Ma
author_facet Kedi Liu
Chunyan Cao
Sicong Gao
Wei Yang
Xuanlong Ma
author_sort Kedi Liu
collection DOAJ
description Conservation of global biodiversity requires scalable tools to monitor species richness patterns, and satellite remote sensing offers a promising avenue. However, a great challenge lies in identifying how best to translate satellite data into ecologically meaningful biodiversity metrics. This study examines the effectiveness of dynamic habitat indices (DHIs) derived from satellite vegetation products, including gross primary productivity (GPP), fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation, leaf area index, normalized difference vegetation index, enhanced vegetation index, and solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence, in capturing global species richness across amphibians, birds, mammals, and reptiles. The DHIs consist of 3 subindices, with each representing an important productivity–species richness hypothesis, namely, annual cumulative productivity (DHI Cum, available energy hypothesis), annual minimum productivity (DHI Min, environmental stress hypothesis), and coefficient of variation of productivity (DHI CV, environmental stability hypothesis). Results showed that DHIs derived from satellite GPP data explain a large proportion of the variance in species richness globally (R2 = 0.70 for amphibians, R2 = 0.78 for birds, R2 = 0.77 for mammals, R2 = 0.77 for reptiles, and R2 = 0.82 when all taxa combined), outperforming other satellite vegetation products. Validation with in situ DHIs calculated from tower-measured GPP at 124 globally FLUXNET sites demonstrated strong agreement with satellite DHIs, supporting the reliability of the satellite GPP-based DHIs. Furthermore, the relatively higher uncertainty of satellite DHIs at low-productivity sites also urges further development of satellite GPP algorithms. Globally, protected areas showed significantly higher DHI Cum and Min and lower DHI CV (P < 0.0001), underscoring their superior habitat quality for biodiversity conservation. These findings highlight the potential of DHIs as a powerful and scalable tool for linking satellite observations to global biodiversity patterns, thus bridging the gap between remote sensing and biodiversity conservation community.
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spelling doaj-art-4e5080b7bf31442cacf37aef5e52f5832025-08-20T03:04:43ZengAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)Journal of Remote Sensing2694-15892025-01-01510.34133/remotesensing.0624Bridging Satellite Productivity and Global Biodiversity: Unveiling Insights through Dynamic Habitat IndicesKedi Liu0Chunyan Cao1Sicong Gao2Wei Yang3Xuanlong Ma4MoE Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems, College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu, China.MoE Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems, College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu, China.Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Environment, Waite Campus, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.Center for Environmental Remote Sensing (CEReS), Chiba University, Chiba, Japan.MoE Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems, College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu, China.Conservation of global biodiversity requires scalable tools to monitor species richness patterns, and satellite remote sensing offers a promising avenue. However, a great challenge lies in identifying how best to translate satellite data into ecologically meaningful biodiversity metrics. This study examines the effectiveness of dynamic habitat indices (DHIs) derived from satellite vegetation products, including gross primary productivity (GPP), fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation, leaf area index, normalized difference vegetation index, enhanced vegetation index, and solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence, in capturing global species richness across amphibians, birds, mammals, and reptiles. The DHIs consist of 3 subindices, with each representing an important productivity–species richness hypothesis, namely, annual cumulative productivity (DHI Cum, available energy hypothesis), annual minimum productivity (DHI Min, environmental stress hypothesis), and coefficient of variation of productivity (DHI CV, environmental stability hypothesis). Results showed that DHIs derived from satellite GPP data explain a large proportion of the variance in species richness globally (R2 = 0.70 for amphibians, R2 = 0.78 for birds, R2 = 0.77 for mammals, R2 = 0.77 for reptiles, and R2 = 0.82 when all taxa combined), outperforming other satellite vegetation products. Validation with in situ DHIs calculated from tower-measured GPP at 124 globally FLUXNET sites demonstrated strong agreement with satellite DHIs, supporting the reliability of the satellite GPP-based DHIs. Furthermore, the relatively higher uncertainty of satellite DHIs at low-productivity sites also urges further development of satellite GPP algorithms. Globally, protected areas showed significantly higher DHI Cum and Min and lower DHI CV (P < 0.0001), underscoring their superior habitat quality for biodiversity conservation. These findings highlight the potential of DHIs as a powerful and scalable tool for linking satellite observations to global biodiversity patterns, thus bridging the gap between remote sensing and biodiversity conservation community.https://spj.science.org/doi/10.34133/remotesensing.0624
spellingShingle Kedi Liu
Chunyan Cao
Sicong Gao
Wei Yang
Xuanlong Ma
Bridging Satellite Productivity and Global Biodiversity: Unveiling Insights through Dynamic Habitat Indices
Journal of Remote Sensing
title Bridging Satellite Productivity and Global Biodiversity: Unveiling Insights through Dynamic Habitat Indices
title_full Bridging Satellite Productivity and Global Biodiversity: Unveiling Insights through Dynamic Habitat Indices
title_fullStr Bridging Satellite Productivity and Global Biodiversity: Unveiling Insights through Dynamic Habitat Indices
title_full_unstemmed Bridging Satellite Productivity and Global Biodiversity: Unveiling Insights through Dynamic Habitat Indices
title_short Bridging Satellite Productivity and Global Biodiversity: Unveiling Insights through Dynamic Habitat Indices
title_sort bridging satellite productivity and global biodiversity unveiling insights through dynamic habitat indices
url https://spj.science.org/doi/10.34133/remotesensing.0624
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AT siconggao bridgingsatelliteproductivityandglobalbiodiversityunveilinginsightsthroughdynamichabitatindices
AT weiyang bridgingsatelliteproductivityandglobalbiodiversityunveilinginsightsthroughdynamichabitatindices
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