Mapping landscape-scale peatland degradation using airborne lidar and multispectral data

Abstract

Context An increased interest in the restoration of peatlands for delivering multiple benefits requires a greater understanding of the extent and location of natural and artificial features that contribute to degradation. Objectives We assessed the utility of multiple, finegrained remote sensing datasets for mapping peatland features and associated degraded areas at a landscapescale. Specifically, we developed an integrated approach to identify and quantify multiple types of peatland degradation including: anthropogenic drainage ditches and peat cuttings; erosional gullies and bare peat areas. Methods Airborne LiDAR, CASI and aerial image datasets of the South West UK, were combined to identify features within Dartmoor National Park peatland area that contribute to degradation. These features were digitised and quantified using ArcGIS before appropriate buffers were applied to estimate the wider ecohydrologically affected area. Results Using fine-scale, large-extent remotely sensed data, combined with aerial imagery enabled key features within the wider expanse of peatland to be successfully identified and mapped at a resolution appropriate to future targeted restoration. Combining multiple datasets increased our understanding of spatial distribution and connectivity within the landscape. An area of 29 km 2 or 9.2% of the Dartmoor peatland area was identified as significantly and directly ecohydrologically degraded. Conclusions Using a combination of fine-grained remotely sensed datasets has advantages over traditional ground survey methods for identification and mapping of anthropogenic and natural erosion features at a landscape scale. The method is accurate, robust and cost-effective particularly given the remote locations and large extent of these landscapes, facilitating effective and targeted restoration planning, management and monitoring.

Assessing the reliability of peatland GPP measurements by remote sensing: From plot to landscape scale

“…Finer resolution satellites such as Sentinel-2 were not used in this study due to their lack of temperature data meaning that they could not be used to calculate the TG model, but this may become possible in future. Future work should also consider aerial remote sensing as an intermediate scale between field spectrometry and satellite data; data from sensors mounted on both aeroplanes (Carless et al, 2019;Räsänen et al, 2019) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) (Beyer et al, 2019;Scholefield et al, 2019) have begun to be used to assess peatland condition and vegetation communities, and have the potential to be included in methods to estimate carbon fluxes.…”

Testing the Contribution of Multi-Source Remote Sensing Features for Random Forest Classification of the Greater Amanzule Tropical Peatland

“…Globally, peatlands hold an estimated 650 billion tonnes of carbon on 3% of the Earth’s land surface, the equivalent to more than half of the carbon in the atmosphere or the carbon stored by Earth’s vegetation [ 2 ]. For their multiple benefits, the need for peatland conservation is widely recognized (i.e., the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Ramsar Convention on wetlands, the Convention on Biological Diversity, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification) but has been hampered by short term economic priorities and national development policies [ 3 , 4 , 5 ]. Large areas of peatlands have already been degraded (estimated 20–25%), and remaining areas are quickly disappearing as a result of logging and plantation development, conversion to residential and industrial zones, climate change impacts and accidental burning [ 2 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ].…”

Viewpoints on Cooperative Peatland Management: Expectations and Motives of Dutch Farmers

“…For peatlands in particular, this means that a water table must be managed in contiguous areas to make a noticeable impact on the hydrological network [14][15][16][17][18]. This is referred to as a landscape-scale or an ecosystem-approach to peat management [19][20][21].…”

“…Long-term drainage of interconnected peat sites can cause disturbances in (eco)hydrology, affecting extensive hydrological networks, with changes reported several hundred meters away from the location of drainage [26]. In addition to slowing down soil subsidence and reducing GHG emissions [9], coordinating efforts between individual farm businesses to raise the mean water level across an extensive peat area can directly and indirectly improve ecosystem services across a landscape, such as species diversity [17] and water quality [15].…”