Long-term monitoring for conservation management: Lessons from a case study integrating remote sensing and field approaches in floodplain forests
- PMID: 28190693
- DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.01.067
Long-term monitoring for conservation management: Lessons from a case study integrating remote sensing and field approaches in floodplain forests
Abstract
Implementing long-term monitoring programs that effectively inform conservation plans is a top priority in environmental management. In floodplain forests, historical pressures interplay with the complex multiscale dynamics of fluvial systems and require integrative approaches to pinpoint drivers for their deterioration and ecosystem services loss. Combining a conceptual framework such as the Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) with the development of valid biological indicators can contribute to the analysis of the driving forces and their effects on the ecosystem in order to formulate coordinated conservation measures. In the present study, we evaluate the initial results of a decade (2004-2014) of floodplain forest monitoring. We adopted the DPSIR framework to summarize the main drivers in land use and environmental change, analyzed the effects on biological indicators of foundation trees and compared the consistency of the main drivers and their effects at two spatial scales. The monitoring program was conducted in one of the largest and best preserved floodplain forests in SW Europe located within Doñana National Park (Spain) which is dominated by Salix atrocinerea and Fraxinus angustifolia. The program combined field (in situ) surveys on a network of permanent plots with several remote sensing sources. The accuracy obtained in spectral classifications allowed shifts in species cover across the whole forest to be detected and assessed. However, remote sensing did not reflect the ecological status of forest populations. The field survey revealed a general decline in Salix populations, especially in the first five years of sampling -a factor probably associated with a lag effect from past human impact on the hydrology of the catchment and recent extreme climatic episodes (drought). In spite of much reduced seed regeneration, a resprouting strategy allows long-lived Salix individuals to persist in complex spatial dynamics. This suggests the beginning of a recovery resulting from recent coordinated societal responses to control excessive water extraction in the catchment, highlighting the need for continuing long-term monitoring. The DPSIR framework proved useful as a conceptual tool in analyzing the entire environmental system, while both field and remote sensing approaches complemented each other in quantifying indicator trends, improving the monitoring design and informing conservation plans.
Keywords: Foundation species; Fraxinus; Resilience; Riparian vegetation; Salix; Wetland hydrology.
Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Similar articles
-
Landscape-scale concordance between local ecological knowledge for tropical wild species and remote sensing of land cover.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022 Oct 4;119(40):e2116446119. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2116446119. Epub 2022 Sep 26. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022. PMID: 36161957 Free PMC article.
-
20 years of landscape dynamics within the world's largest multinational network of protected areas.J Environ Manage. 2021 Feb 15;280:111712. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.111712. Epub 2020 Dec 7. J Environ Manage. 2021. PMID: 33303250
-
Using indigenous knowledge to link hyper-temporal land cover mapping with land use in the Venezuelan Amazon: "The Forest Pulse".Rev Biol Trop. 2016 Dec;64(4):1661-82. doi: 10.15517/rbt.v64i4.21886. Rev Biol Trop. 2016. PMID: 29465944
-
Threats, biodiversity drivers and restoration in temperate floodplain forests related to spatial scales.Sci Total Environ. 2023 Jan 1;854:158743. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158743. Epub 2022 Sep 13. Sci Total Environ. 2023. PMID: 36108840 Review.
-
Tracing the scientific trajectory of riparian vegetation studies: Main topics, approaches and needs in a globally changing world.Sci Total Environ. 2019 Feb 25;653:1168-1185. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.10.383. Epub 2018 Nov 1. Sci Total Environ. 2019. PMID: 30759557 Review.
Cited by
-
Seasonal trends and population status of the highly threatened Pteropus livingstonii in the Comoros archipelago.BMC Ecol Evol. 2024 May 19;24(1):64. doi: 10.1186/s12862-024-02255-w. BMC Ecol Evol. 2024. PMID: 38764016 Free PMC article.
-
A spatial stream-network approach assists in managing the remnant genetic diversity of riparian forests.Sci Rep. 2019 May 1;9(1):6741. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-43132-7. Sci Rep. 2019. PMID: 31043695 Free PMC article.
MeSH terms
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Other Literature Sources
Miscellaneous