ECOPOTENTIAL: Improving Future Ecosystem Benefits through Earth Observations

3 Assessment of gaps, needs and opportunities

3.1 Opportunities for application of Earth Observation 3.1.1 Applications of Earth Observation in ECOPOTENTIAL The ECOPOTENTIAL project is at the forefront of developing new tools and methods of harnessing the data available from Earth Observation and in-situ environmental monitoring data in order to characterise the current state and ongoing and expected changes in biodiversity,

ecosystem functioning, processes and services. Several examples from the ECOPOTENTIAL project illustrate the use and application of Earth Observation across the mountain, coastal and marine, and arid ecosystems. * Below three case studies are presented. * The ECOPOTENTIAL project partners have defined storylines, which link real- life issues to the project’s Protected Areas. The storylines capture the need for Earth Observation data for ecosystem modelling, ecosystem services, cross- scale topics, demands for future protection, policy and capacity building. These are aimed to be broad yet locally relevant, engaging with stakeholders and decision-makers, forming the basis for further operational work in the field.

Monitoring the health of sensitive, biodiverse mountain lakes

CASE STUDY 1

Lake Ohrid.

Location: Prespa and Ohrid Lakes (Macedonia, Greece and Albania)

The Application of Earth Observation in ECOPOTENTIAL: The high spatial resolution of satellite images allows for the estimation of water quality and hydrological parameters, such as chlorophyll concentration, phenology metrics, surface currents and surface area. Information drawn from Earth Observation at the catchment scale on land cover, land use, vegetation status and forest fires also facilitates the establishment of linkages between catchment scale alterations and lake ecosystem processes. As such, remote sensing data can complement and extend traditional lake sampling methods, facilitating understanding of the current state of lake ecosystems and supporting the application of appropriate management strategies. This case study has been adapted from the original ECOPOTENTIAL storyline contributions by Provenzale, A. (CNR); Giamberini, S. (CNR); Baneschi, I. (CNR); Imperio, S. (CNR); Markovic, D. (UP); Scharfenberger, U. (UP); Tasevska, O. (HIO); Sonnenschein, R. (EURAC).

The Challenge: Mountain lakes face a number of pressures and threats, including growth in tourism, rapid urbanization, pollution, land use intensification, water uptake, increasing eutrophication, introduction of alien species and climate change. Responses to these pressures can include shifts in timing, magnitude and duration of phytoplankton blooms, as well as altered community composition. These in turn can lead to changes in water quality and a decrease in overall biodiversity. The management of freshwater ecosystems generally relies on the availability of accurate in situ measurements and analyses of water samples. A lot of data on the physical, chemical and biological properties of the lake waters are available. In-situ data, however, give information only for a single point in time and space, thus providing limited information on spatial and temporal changes of environmental parameters across surface waters.

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