Remote Sensing of Geodiversity as a Link to Biodiversity

Abstract

Biodiversity is essential for ecosystem functioning and ecosystem services (Chapin et al. 1997; Yachi and Loreau 1999). Yet rapid global change is altering biodiversity and endangering its vital functions, with human-caused habitat deterioration being the number one cause of biodiversity loss (Sala et al. 2000). In addition, climate change is directly affecting individual species abundances and distributions and indirectly affecting species via biotic interactions (Walther et al. 2002). When combined, these effects lead to novel ecological communities for which there are no modern analogs (Williams and Jackson 2007). Although species have continually experienced shifts in climate, the recent rate of temperature change is more rapid than in any other timeframe in the past 10,000 years (Marcott et al. 2013), and temperatures are expected to rise even faster in the near future (Smith et al. 2015). In light of these rapid global changes, a major challenge for biodiversity scientists is to generate robust statistical models that describe and predict biodiversity in space and

A Test of Species Distribution Model Transferability Across Environmental and Geographic Space for 108 Western North American Tree Species

“…The goal is to identify areas with higher habitat diversity that may harbor higher levels of biodiversity. This habitat diversity is termed geodiversity-variation in Earth's abiotic processes and features; (Zarnetske et al, 2019;Record et al, 2020). Schrodt et al (2019) recently called for the international groups (e.g., the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network [GEOBON]) to consider a framework for identifying essential geodiversity variables (EGV) to complement the essential biodiversity variables (EBV) framework that places a strong emphasis on understanding potential changes in species distributions (Pereira et al, 2013).…”

Beyond counts and averages: Relating geodiversity to dimensions of biodiversity

“…This suggests that in regions where climatic factors strongly control species diversity, the influence of geodiversity on biodiversity is weaker. However, this result might depend on the spatial extent of the study region; a similar model fitted only for trees in the Pacific Northwest region shows a strong positive correlation between elevational variability and tree alpha and gamma diversity (Record et al, in press).…”

“…Some geodiversity definitions include climate, using variables such as temperature, precipitation, evapotranspiration, water balance and solar radiation, whereas others explicitly exclude climate from their definition (Gray, ; Parks & Mulligan, ; Tukiainen, Bailey, Field, Kangas, & Hjort, ). A comprehensive definition of geodiversity includes all abiotic features and processes found within Earth's atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere and cryosphere (Record et al, in press; Zarnetske et al, ).…”

Linking Remote Sensing and Geodiversity and Their Traits Relevant to Biodiversity—Part I: Soil Characteristics

“…Gray [61] defined "geodiversity" as the diversity of soil, geological, and geomorphological characteristics and the processes that lead to these characteristics. Other definitions of geodiversity integrate elements and characteristics of the lithosphere, the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, and the cryosphere, as well as their processes and interactions within and between the geo-components that are directly and indirectly related to biodiversity [62][63][64].…”