Using remote sensing to help restore landscapes – The Applied Ecologist

In our ‘Field Diaries’ series, The Applied Ecologist is sharing stories from a range of different fieldwork experiences. In this post Guilherme Castro shares his research on using remote sensing to better understand how to restore landscapes.

About the Author

Guilherme Castro, he/him

Affiliation: Royal Holloway University of London & Royal Botanic Gardens Kew

Ecology interests: Landscapes, restoration, remote sensing

Overview of fieldwork

I am a PhD student at Royal Holloway University of London and Royal Botanic Gardens Kew researching ways to better restore landscapes. I use remote sensing technology to understand how the structural complexity of vegetation influences ecological processes across different land management practices – from rewilding and natural colonization to wood pastures and ancient woodlands.

To study how these different land management strategies influence ecosystem functioning, I fly drones to collect high-resolution imagery. As ecosystems change with the seasons, I am collecting data at different times of the year to assess how those changes look from above. The different cameras attached to the drone measure how much light is being reflected by the vegetation in different bandwidths. This allows me to calculate indices that are good indicators for specific ecological processes, for example the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) as a proxy for primary productivity.

In addition to the drone work, I have been also collecting structural data using LiDAR technology. The terrestrial 3D scanner uses lasers to detect objects and allows to build highly accurate 3D models of the vegetation structure. After collecting the data, I can then calculate different metrics (e.g. vegetation height) to fully characterize the structural profiles of each site.

This is when collaborating with partners becomes crucial to unpick trends and patterns. My PhD project brings together several partners across Sussex in Southern UK, including Wakehurst Kew, Sussex Wildlife Trust, Nymans National Trust, Knepp Wilding, as well as farmers and private landowners. With their vast knowledge of how the study areas are and have been managed over time, I can better understand what the data is telling me. At the same time, this evidence is well received by all partners as it gives new insights to the management and monitoring of their sites.

Why is this an important project?

We know that structural complexity is important for biodiversity in wide variety of ways, for example by providing different habitat types to different species. But it also plays a major role in how ecosystems function and the services they provide, such as temperature regulation and pollution mitigation. In the UK context, we see vast landscapes with simplified structural complexity, which  brings direct consequences for biodiversity, while also reducing the ability of  ecosystems to resist and adapt to future climate scenarios.  Therefore, we need to understand more deeply how structural complexity shapes ecosystem functioning, especially on a restoration perspective.

Spending so much time covering different sites around Sussex has broadened my understanding of the importance of implementing different restoration and management strategies at a landscape scale. If we are to scale up restoration efforts, it is critical to understand which contributions the different land management practices provide from a structural and functional perspective. Such evidence can help us to balance different strategies and prioritize areas to implement restoration actions for effective nature recovery.

Next steps

While we already know a lot about restoring nature at scale, there are still great uncertainties on how and in what measure different strategies should be implemented. I am hoping to keep contributing with new evidence to support implementation claims and help design effective ways to put nature on a path of recovery. Not least, I have been delving into the world of remote sensing applied to the study of ecosystems and landscapes. It has been an exciting and rewarding journey and has made me a more resourceful ecologist. As the end of my fieldwork campaign approaches, I am now looking forward to analysing data, producing useful outputs and sharing it with the world.

Where can we find more information? 

A blog post about my PhD can be found here.

Discover more posts from our Fieldwork Diaries blog series here.