Search Results (13)

A biotope map provides ecological and spatial information that reflects the natural and ecological features and values of a city. In South Korea, efforts have been made to create a map that includes grades based on evaluating the ecological value of a specific surface space. However, plans for applications have not been established, except for development restrictions or regulations for biotopes with high ecological value ratings. The aim of this study was to promote environmentally friendly and sustainable urban management through ecological land use management for all biotope types that are influenced by anthropogenic land use. Strategies for maintenance, protection, recovery, improvement, creation, and reduction based on ecological restoration principles were set as management goals. To achieve these management goals, evaluation items and indicators were suggested for minor-classification types and applied to Dongducheon City. Management strategies were suggested for target sites based on grades and thematic maps of biotope types to be utilized, such as urban ecological axes, river naturality restoration, and wetland and forest preservation. These findings support sustainable and environmentally friendly urban development by providing fundamental data for ecological and environmental management, including the preservation and restoration of natural environments and the creation of urban ecological networks. Full article

To maintain or enhance biodiversity and sea floor integrity, mapping benthic habitats is a mandatory requirement in compliance with the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). The EU Commission Decision distinguishes between Broad Habitat Types (BHTs) and Other Habitat Types (OHTs). At the regional level, biotopes in the Baltic Sea region are classified according to the HELCOM underwater biotope and habitat classification (HUB). In this study, the habitats and their benthic communities were mapped for the entire German Baltic Sea at a high spatial resolution of 1 km. In two nature conservation areas of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) as well as selected focus areas in the coastal waters, the resolution we provide is even more detailed at 50 × 50 m. Hydroacoustic data recording and benthological surveys (using bottom grabs, underwater towing camera technology, and diver sampling) helped identify biotopes in high resolution. Based on these data, together with additional data acquired since 2010 (a total of over 7000 stations and transect sections), we were able to spatially delineate benthic biotopes and their communities via predictive habitat modelling. The results are provided as full-coverage maps each for BHT, OHT, and HUB (9 classes of BHTs, 5 classes of OHTs, and 84 classes of HUB) with a level of spatial detail that does not yet exist for the Baltic Sea, and they form an essential basis for future monitoring, status assessments, and protection and management measures. Full article

The objective of this work was to map population of common juniper (Juniperus communis L.) in the territory of Slovak Republic. Common juniper is not protected by Slovakian law or the authorities; therefore, there is no law to preserve these plant populations. Biotopes of common juniper consist of light- to heavy-density trees and shrubs. The expansion of its habitat is also connected to human involvement. The loss of juniper naturally in observed plants is caused by a change in land use, loss of feeding pastures for cattle and sheep, and eutrophication of the environment. The current study was focused on monitoring the population of this plant species in the years of 2018–2020, the isolation of essential oils, and the identification of qualitative and quantitative characteristics. It was confirmed that juniper berries usually contain from 0.5 ± 0.05 to 1.8 ± 0.06%, usually 1.2 ± 0.16%, volatile oil depending on geography, altitude, ripeness, and other factors. Volatile oil is made up mostly of monoterpenes, mainly α-pinene (from 37.60 ± 2.23 to 61.00 ± 0.60%), β-myrcene (from 8.03 ± 2.02 to 10.56 ± 0.05%), and sabinene (from 3.50 ± 0.30 to 22.0 ± 0.96%). The dendrogram was constructed after a hierarchical cluster analysis based on the essential oil substances, which showed four different confirmed chemotypes. The essential oil is widely used in medicines, perfumes, insect repellents, insecticides, shoe polish, and in microscopy as a clearing agent of an immersion oil. The quality and chemotypes of juniper berries are very important for the Slovak national beverage “Borovicka” and the distillery industry on a whole in this country. Full article

For sustainable, national landscape-planning, this study focused on land cover changes, landscape analysis methods from various perspectives on the landscape, legal system analysis related to landscape planning, and analysis of a basic spatial map for landscape planning. First of all, in Korea the focus is on the aesthetic aspect of the landscape, while foreign countries look at the landscape from multiple perspectives and tried to solve the problem of landscape damage on this basis. Next, looking at the changes in land cover, it was found that the urbanized area increased significantly, but the area of agricultural land and wetlands decreased significantly due to development plans. In addition, looking at the contents of the landscape plan in terms of the legal system, the legal system of the Republic of Korea included a multifunctional aspect of the landscape, but the contents were only at the level of policy suggestions. Finally, through a review of a basic spatial map for landscape planning, it was found that among various basic spatial maps, the biotope map is highly likely to be used when establishing national landscape plans. The results of this study are meaningful in that they have not only established the concept of landscape in terms of multifunctionality but also established improvement measures in terms of legal and institutional aspects and the basic spatial map. Full article

Grasslands are an important biotope in Europe, not only because they are widespread, but also because they provide valuable ecosystem services. The ecological value of a grassland parcel is directly proportional to the number of uninterrupted years of grassland cover. However, the area of long-term grassland (i.e., grassland of 5 years or older) is decreasing, limiting its ability to provide ecosystem services. To prevent the further disappearance of long-term grasslands, Europe developed an agricultural policy instrument in 2003 to protect grasslands of 5 years or older. Nature policy instruments aim to protect grasslands that have existed for more than 10 years to support their high environmental value. However, there is currently no multi-annual information on the location and age of grasslands at a high spatial and temporal resolution, which makes it difficult to assess the effectiveness of the current grassland protection regulations. Multi-annual satellite-based land cover classification can provide a solution for grassland area and age monitoring, which we tested by producing a series of Landsat-based land cover classification maps from 2005 to 2019 for the region of Flanders, Belgium. Historical land cover classification maps proved useful for evaluating past and present planning and policy to ensure grassland conservation, linking spatial and temporal changes in the area of long-term grasslands with policy changes and landscape dynamics. We were able to locate grasslands that were grassland between 2005 and 2014 but were converted to arable land between 2015 and 2019, identify the year in which these grasslands were converted to arable land, and demonstrate regional differences in the conservation of long-term grassland aged 5–9 years and 10 years or more. Long-term grassland aged 10 years or more disappeared faster in urban than in rural areas in Flanders between 2014 and 2019. Our study shows that multi-annual high-resolution satellite imagery provides objective and quantitative information on long-term grassland to support climate, agricultural, environmental, and nature policies. Full article

The current awareness of the high importance of urban green leads to a stronger need for tools to comprehensively represent urban green and its benefits. A common scientific approach is the development of urban ecosystem services (UES) based on remote sensing methods at the city or district level. Urban planning, however, requires fine-grained data that match local management practices. Hence, this study linked local biotope and tree mapping methods to the concept of ecosystem services. The methodology was tested in an inner-city district in SW Germany, comparing publicly accessible areas and non-accessible courtyards. The results provide area-specific [m²] information on the green inventory at the microscale, whereas derived stock and UES indicators form the basis for comparative analyses regarding climate adaptation and biodiversity. In the case study, there are ten times more micro-scale green spaces in private courtyards than in the public space, as well as twice as many trees. The approach transfers a scientific concept into municipal planning practice, enables the quantitative assessment of urban green at the microscale and illustrates the importance for green stock data in private areas to enhance decision support in urban development. Different aspects concerning data collection and data availability are critically discussed. Full article

The ribbon-like pine forests of North Kazakhstan represent the principal territorial intrazonal and azonal biotopes. Integrated bio-geographic studies of the pine forests’ status were performed in the Beskaragai and Chaldai Nature Reserves in the Pri-Irtysh River basin within, at present, the climate–change most susceptible transitional parkland-steppe zone of Central Asia, adjoining the West Siberian Lowland. The investigations followed the regional topographic gradient with a series of mapped sites characterizing the spatial relief patterns of the pristine forest distribution and the associated phytocenoses. The results revealed marked natural arboreal cover restoration differences between the geographically close upland and lowland forest ecosystems. The regional tree growth dynamics show the varying intensity of the pine seedlings’ succession, the tree stands’ biomass productivity and the environmental stability, weakened by the extreme continentality and progressing aridification along with adverse anthropogenic ecological impacts. The specific geomorphic, soil and hydrological conditions are the principal determining factors. The more vital plain and lowland pine forests host the floristically richer fescue-dominated communities compared to the more fragile and precipitation-poorer upland pine settings. The latter forest ecosystems display a higher vulnerability to the current climate change, generating tree drying, forest fires, and to modern human activities such as logging, herding and recreation. The research conclusions provide new insights on the natural ribbon-like pine forests’ sustainability and adaptation to the ongoing continental warming triggering fundamental environmental transformations in Central Asia’s parklands. Full article

Forests are defined in many different ways. Apart from ecological and structural factors, associated values and provided ecosystem services are an important part of forest definitions. Typically, forest types are differentiated based on climatic regions and on degrees of human modification. A better understanding of how to distinguish different forests on the basis of the values they provide is needed to advance global policies put forward by organisations such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), or the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These policies so far approach all forests in a similar manner, regardless of their condition. Without this distinction, benefits stemming from forest intactness and their contribution to global environmental challenges remain unaccounted for. Forest definitions provide the basis for policies and monitoring systems driving or enabling deforestation, degradation, reforestation, and restoration. Here, we provide a systematic approach to disentangle and synthesise different value classifications of forests. As part of a collaboration between ETH Zurich, the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), the University of Liège and Biotope, Forest Stewardship Council International (FSC) commissioned a systematic map that aims to clarify how definitions of forests of high value are understood and described. Focusing on forests of high value, the systematic map will address three research questions: (1) How are various terms linked to forests of high value defined in the literature?; (2) Do definitions vary between different actors?; and (3) How common are the various definitions? Bibliographic databases and organisational websites will be searched, and internet search engines used to find relevant peer-reviewed and grey literature. The searches will be conducted in English, French and Spanish. Data extraction and coding will be performed at the same time when full texts are considered for inclusion. Definitions will be extracted as well as their respective sources and other study information. We will produce a catalogue of definitions for different terms associated with forests of high value, a narrative synthesis describing the evidence base, and visualisations illustrating the relationships between definitions and terms for forests of high value and their frequencies in the literature. Full article

The use of habitat distribution models (HDMs) has become common in benthic habitat mapping for combining limited seabed observations with full-coverage environmental data to produce classified maps showing predicted habitat distribution for an entire study area. However, relatively few HDMs include oceanographic predictors, or present spatial validity or uncertainty analyses to support the classified predictions. Without reference studies it can be challenging to assess which type of oceanographic model data should be used, or developed, for this purpose. In this study, we compare biotope maps built using predictor variable suites from three different oceanographic models with differing levels of detail on near-bottom conditions. These results are compared with a baseline model without oceanographic predictors. We use associated spatial validity and uncertainty analyses to assess which oceanographic data may be best suited to biotope mapping. Our results show how spatial validity and uncertainty metrics capture differences between HDM outputs which are otherwise not apparent from standard non-spatial accuracy assessments or the classified maps themselves. We conclude that biotope HDMs incorporating high-resolution, preferably bottom-optimised, oceanography data can best minimise spatial uncertainty and maximise spatial validity. Furthermore, our results suggest that incorporating coarser oceanographic data may lead to more uncertainty than omitting such data. Full article

Soil sealing is a worldwide phenomenon of covering of natural or seminatural soil with impervious surfaces, such as built-up or paved surfaces. It is widely recognized as a major environmental issue which drives landscape fragmentation and ecosystem services degradation and loss. Italy is one of European countries with the highest extent of soil sealing. The most affected area is northern Italy, especially the Po Valley with more than 12% of sealed surfaces. According to official data, Veneto Region and the city of Padua are seriously affected by this phenomenon. The Biotope Area Factor is a consolidated ecological urban index for mapping soil sealing, adopted in different European cities to support urban planning; it expresses the ratio of the ecologically effective surface area in relation to the total land area according to land cover classes. The general aim of this study is to map and to assess soil sealing in the whole municipal territory of Padua using the Biotope Area Factor (BAF) index. We tested and adopted a digital land cover map together with aerial images to perform a BAF analysis on the whole municipal territory of Padua. By using sample areas previously analyzed, we validated our source data by a double spatial validation process; therefore, soil sealing analysis was scaled-up to the municipality territory. Results show that in the city of Padua, the average BAF index value is 0.6; totally permeable surfaces (BAF = 1) cover 59.5%, whereas totally “sealed” surfaces (BAF = 0) are 40.3% of the municipal territory (93 km²). Most of the sealed soil is located in the east sector and in the historical core of the city, with BAF values ranging from 0 to 0.2. A particularly critical area is identified within the new industrial area of the city, which is strongly affected by soil sealing. BAF maps are useful tools to identify critical areas by geovisualizing surface permeability at a very detailed scale and by enabling further analyses for hydrogeological risk assessment and urban climate regulation. Moreover, the use of BAF maps at urban scale today represent an important tool for urban management, especially for policy makers who are planning mitigation and compensation measures to control soil sealing. Full article

Over the last few years, soil sealing has been recognized as one of the major threats in terms of soil degradation and loss of ecosystem services. Although many efforts have been promoted to increase the awareness of safeguarding soil for stakeholders, its value as a non-renewable resource as well as soil-related services in urban ecosystems is not implemented enough in urban planning and policies. Due to the spatially explicit component and the geographical scale of soil sealing, mapping and quantifying the number of sealed surfaces is crucial. The aim of this paper was to estimate and geovisualize the soil sealed in the city of Padua (Italy) at a very detailed scale, testing the use of the Biotope Area Factor (BAF) index. Moreover, the paper aimed to simulate an alternative mitigation scenario in a specific study area of the city. Spatial analysis was performed testing the BAF index in a Geographic Information Sistem (GIS) environment and using aerial ortho-photos at very high resolution. The results show different values of the BAF index for all four neighborhoods from 0.35 to 0.69. In the mitigation scenario, the value of the BAF index was improved using a measure of green roofs. In conclusion, the paper provides an insightful case study for enriching the debate about soil sealing and gives scientific support for sustainable urban planning. Full article

Ecotopes are the smallest ecologically distinct landscape features in a landscape mapping and classification system. Mapping ecotopes therefore enables the measurement of ecological patterns, process and change. In this study, a multi-source GEOBIA workflow is used to improve the automated delineation and descriptions of ecotopes. Aerial photographs and LIDAR data provide input for landscape segmentation based on spectral signature, height structure and topography. Each segment is then characterized based on the proportion of land cover features identified at 2 m pixel-based classification. The results show that the use of hillshade bands simultaneously with spectral bands increases the consistency of the ecotope delineation. These results are promising to further describe biotopes of high ecological conservation value, as suggested by a successful test on ravine forest biotope. Full article

Vegetation provides important functions and services in urban areas, and vegetation heights divided into vertical and horizontal units can be used as indicators for its assessment. Conversely, detailed area-wide and updated height information is frequently missing for most urban areas. This study sought to assess three vegetation height classes from a globally available TanDEM-X digital elevation model (DEM, 12 × 12 m spatial resolution) for Berlin, Germany. Subsequently, height distribution and its accuracy across biotope classes were derived. For this, a TanDEM-X intermediate DEM, a LiDAR DTM, an UltraCamX vegetation layer, and a biotope map were included. The applied framework comprised techniques of data integration and raster algebra for: Deriving a height model for all of Berlin, masking non-vegetated areas, classifying two canopy height models (CHMs) for bushes/shrubs and trees, deriving vegetation heights for 12 biotope classes and assessing accuracies using validation CHMs. The findings highlighted the possibility of assessing vegetation heights for total vegetation, trees and bushes/shrubs with low and consistent offsets of mean heights (total CHM: −1.56 m; CHM for trees: −2.23 m; CHM bushes/shrubs: 0.60 m). Negative offsets are likely caused by X-band canopy penetrations. Between the biotope classes, large variations of height and area were identified (vegetation height/biotope and area/biotope: ~3.50–~16.00 m; 4.44%–96.53%). The framework and results offer a great asset for citywide and spatially explicit assessment of vegetation heights as an input for urban ecology studies, such as investigating habitat diversity based on the vegetation’s heterogeneity. Full article