Land cover research, applications and development needs in Slovakia Andrej Halabuk Institute of Landscape Ecology Slovak Academy of Sciences (ILE SAS) Štefánikova 3, 814 99 Bratislava, Slovakia
Institute of Landscape Ecology Slovak Academy of Sciences Interdisciplinary scientific institution for basic and applied research in landscape ecology (established in 1965) Total staff: 59 (scientific staff: 39; PhD students: 7) ILE SAS covers fields of abiotic, biotic and socio-economic sciences
Research related to Remote Sensing Landscape ecology Land cover mapping and classification Habitat suitability modelling and predictive mapping Landscape structure analysis Land use and land cover change (detection and modelling) Biodiversity and ecosystem research Long-term ecological research (time series analysis of NDVI for LSP and stress detection) Biodiversity assessment at landscape scale Impact of climate variability on ecosystems
2007 1992 1978 1953 1900 1820 1770 Linking Pan-European Land cover Change to Pressures on Biodiversity
DPSIR concept Land cover transitions during 1949-1987 2003 Main changes 1949-1987 from extensive grassland to forest from mosaics to intensive grassland from mosaics to extensive grassland from mosaics to forest from shrub to forest Main changes 1987-2003 Study area boundary Not changed Change 1987-2003 Change 1949-1987 Changes in both periods from ext. grassland to grassland with trees from extensive grassland to forest from grassland with trees to forest from shrub to forest
Predictive land cover change modelling 2003 Liberalization 2030 BAU 2030 Biodiversity 2030
Future development: From land cover change to land cover dynamics Land cover dynamics characterized by seasonal and inter-seasonal variability of vegetation greenness reflected in dynamic change of SI signal Annual mean of MAX NDVI from 2001-2010 Response to increasing availability of SI Increasing temporal resolution (LDCM, Sentinel2,...) Result: multitemporal and time series based land cover classification and land cover dynamics analysis time series analysis of vegetation greenness (NDVI) Inter-seasonal variability (CV of annual MAX NDVI from 2001-2010) Mean seasonality within season SD of MAX NDVI
Grassland focus Using of NDVI time series for grassland monitoring Grasslands important component of landscape and its functioning (production, biodiversity, water retention) Lack of spatial statistics, difficult detection by RS Detection of management practice in grasslands (cutting, grazing, overgrowing, drying, flooding, burning)
Grasslands: 94 % accuracy Grasslands: 92 % accuracy Errors decreased dramatically after the crop harvesting in late June Accuracy decreased to 85% and 78% when using only 2 resp. 1 time period for the analysis
Grassland mapping in Slovakia Validat. set CLC 8d NDVI 16d NDVI Heterogeneous Prod. accuracy 38% 30% 30% User's accuracy 58% 58% 51% Homogenous Prod. accuracy 39% 68% 53% Intensive grasslands unmanaged grasslands User's accuracy 77,5% 61% 60% - Broader scale higher variability worse results - More effort needs for training - Phenology based classes needs to be defined - Still promising results compare to CLC flooded grasslands
Classification of grasslands based on annual profile of NDVI 1. Slovak grassland sites (pure 3758 pixels) based on GE inspection and LPIS 2. Hungarian lowlands (N2000 grasslands - approx. 32000 pure pixels GE inspection) 3. Slovak grasslands approx. 90 000 heterog. pixels without no check
Land cover dynamics interaction with climate variability 2003 Median
Land cover dynamics detection - Mainly remote and mountainous areas - Further analysis needed including socioeconomic data - Possible consequences predictive modelling Number of years managed from 2001-2010
Land cover dynamics detection - Mainly remote and mountainous areas - Further analysis including socioeconomic data is needed - Possible consequences predictive modelling Number of years unmanaged from 2001-2010
unmanaged managed 1 Further analysis including socioeconomic data is needed 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Future needs Network of field validation sites (including land management data) at regional scale Developing techniques for up-scaling between sites, networks of sites for detecting and interpreting key indicators of land use and land cover change Designing a system for a cost effective monitoring that enable frequent, repeated, regionally coordinated assessment of distribution, status and trends of landscape and ecosystems