BIODIVERSITY IS A CRITICAL INDICATOR OF ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONING AND HEALTH. GREATER NATIVE BIODIVERSITY (I.E. NOT CONSIDERING INVASIVE SPECIES) ENHANCES ECOSYSTEM FUNCTION PRODUCTIVITY RESILIENCE VARIABILITY OF THE GENETIC POOL AND A MULTITUDE OF OTHER ECOSYSTEM SERVICES. RECENT STUDIES HAVE STARTED TO EXPLORE THE POTENTIAL OF REMOTE SENSING TO ESTIMATE BIODIVERSITY ATTRIBUTES AND PATTERNS IN NATURAL AND MANAGED ECOSYSTEMS AS SPECTRAL VARIABILITY IS EXPECTED TO BE CORRELATED WITH BIODIVERSITY RICHNESS ITS TRAITS AND FUNCTION. MOST STUDIES TO DATE HAVE USED MODERATE RESOLUTION SATELLITES TO INVESTIGATE SPECIES RICHNESS AND ALPHA BIODIVERSITY USING NDVI AND OTHER INDICES WITH SOMEWHAT MIXED RESULTS. THAT IS SIGNIFICANT CORRELATIONS FREQUENTLY EXIST BUT WITH POOR OR LOW PREDICTIVE POWER. FEW STUDIES HAVE HAD ACCESS TO IMAGE SPECTROSCOPY DATA WHICH ALLOWS GREATER POWER IN DETERMINING THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SPECTRAL VARIABILITY AND BIODIVERSITY

University Of California, Davis

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