NextGEOSS’s Biodiversity Community Portals for Generating Remote Sensingenabled Essential Biodiversity Variables and Habitat Suitability Maps

Earth observation data is an ideal platform for capturing change in biodiversity at various resolutions, both spatially and temporally, while GEOBON creates an explicit structure for monitoring biodiversity by proposing EBV candidates. It is not only important to generate remote sensing (RS)-enabled biodiversity products using high-resolution data, but more than ever, it is necessary to address the biodiversity loss at the global scale from satellite acquisitions. In this regard, under the biodiversity pilot of the NextGEOSS initiative, the ITC biodiversity community portal (http://nextgeoss.itc.utwente.nl/ebv/) provides a self-service framework to generate RS-enabled biodiversity products for better understanding of biodiversity loss and ecosystem changes for the remote sensing and biodiversity communities. In addition, the WENR Biodiversity community portal (https://www.synbiosys.alterra.nl/nextgeoss) applies the RS-enabled biodiversity products as predictors, as well as in situ vegetation plot data for EUNIS habitat suitability modelling. Different users, including research and development institutions, public and private stakeholders, and decision-makers, are also making use of these resources. Currently, users can access the ITC Biodiversity community portal to generate Leaf Area Index as an RS-enabled biodiversity product in GEOBON EBV class ‘Ecosystem Function’, and also as one of the most important vegetation biophysical variable on a global scale using high-resolution satellite data (Sentinel-2, 20m) processed online using Cloud services (Terradue Cloud service). Also, under the EuroGEOSS project, additional remote sensing biodiversity products (Net primary productivity, chlorophyll content, habitat type, and fragmentation) are being moved and mirrored from the ITC biodiversity community portal to the GEOBON biodiversity portal, where they will be permanently available for use by the biodiversity and remote sensing communities.