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NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Applications of NASA’s LANCE Earth Observations for Ecosystem Assessments

As one of NASA's open and free data systems, NASA's Land, Atmosphere Near real-time Capability for EOS (LANCE) provides a wide range of near real-time, low latency and expedited data products from NASA and other earth science satellite missions to support users in their understanding of the value and distribution of ecosystem services. LANCE data can support the System of Environmental Economic Accounting-Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA-EA) framework by both facilitating the creation of ecosystem spatial extent and condition accounts, as well as the quantification and mapping of ecosystem services, much more quickly than routine data processing allows. During the past 13 years, LANCE near real-time satellite data products (e.g., surface reflectance, albedo, vegetation height, thermal anomalies, soil moisture, snow cover etc.) have been used to produce ecosystem-related indicators such as vegetation indexes, biomass, land cover maps, fire, and flood products. These ecosystem-related indicators can be integrated into ecosystem services models, tools, and platforms to monitor land cover and land use changes in ecosystem composition in support of land and natural resource management. When using ecosystem services accounts in decision-making, low latency is essential because having up-to-date information can be critical to support decisions being made. With adequate spatial resolution, long time series length, and low latency data products, LANCE would promote the sustainable use of land and natural resources.

Tian Yao↗

NASA NTRS2012

Bringing Together Users and Developers of Forest Biomass Maps

Forests store carbon and thus represent important sinks for atmospheric carbon dioxide. Reducing uncertainty in current estimates of the amount of carbon in standing forests will improve precision of estimates of anthropogenic contributions to carbon dioxide in the atmosphere due to deforestation. Although satellite remote sensing has long been an important tool for mapping land cover, until recently aboveground forest biomass estimates have relied mostly on systematic ground sampling of forests. In alignment with fiscal year 2010 congressional direction, NASA has initiated work toward a carbon monitoring system (CMS) that includes both maps of forest biomass and total carbon flux estimates. A goal of the project is to ensure that the products are useful to a wide community of scientists, managers, and policy makers, as well as to carbon cycle scientists. Understanding the needs and requirements of these data users is helpful not just to the NASA CMS program but also to the entire community working on carbon-related activities. To that end, this meeting brought together a small group of natural resource managers and policy makers who use information on forests in their work with NASA scientists who are working to create aboveground forest biomass maps. These maps, derived from combining remote sensing and ground plots, aim to be more accurate than current inventory approaches when applied at local and regional scales. Meeting participants agreed that users of biomass information will look to the CMS effort not only to provide basic data for carbon or biomass measurements but also to provide data to help serve a broad range of goals, such as forest watershed management for water quality, habitat management for biodiversity and ecosystem services, and potential use for developing payments for ecosystem service projects. Participants also reminded the CMS group that potential users include not only public sector agencies and nongovernmental organizations but also the private sector because much forest acreage in the United States is privately held and needs data for forest management. Additional key outcomes identified by meeting participants include the following: (1) Priority should be given to building into the biomass product ease of use and low costs (including costs of hardware, software, and analysis requirements), (2) CMS products should also be relevant to other biomass measures for forest watershed management, habitat protection for biodiversity, and assessment of markets for ecosystem services, (3) CMS leadership should engage with the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change as they establish measuring, reporting, and verification standards, and (4) CMS leadership should continue to keep sister agencies and other organizations informed as CMS develops, particularly via the agencies active in the U.S. Global Change Research Program Carbon Cycle Interagency Working Group (U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and nongovernmental organizations.

Forest↗

DOE OSTI2025

Valued peaks: Sustainable water allocation for small hydropower plants in an era of explicit ecological needs

Optimizing hydropower operations to balance economic profitability and support functioning ecosystem services is integral to river management policy. In this article, we propose a dynamic, constrained optimization framework for small hydropower plants (SHPs) to evaluate trade-offs between economic profitability and socio-ecological requirements. Specifically, we examine the balance between short-term losses in hydropower generation and the potential for compensatory benefits in the form of revenue from recreational ecosystem services, irrespective of the direct beneficiary. Our framework integrates a fish habitat model, a hydropower optimization model, and a recreational ecosystem service estimate to evaluate different environmental flow scenarios. The optimization process gives three outflow release scenarios, informed by previous streamflow realisations (dam inflow), and designed environmental flow constraints. The framework is applied and tested for the river Kuusinkijoki in North-eastern Finland, which is a habitat for migratory brown trout and grayling populations. We show that the revenue loss due to the environmental flow constraints arises through a reduction in revenue per generated energy unit and through a reduction in turbine efficiency. Additionally, the simulation results reveal that all the designed environmental flow constraints cannot be met simultaneously. Under the environmental flow scenario with both minimum flow and flow ramping rate constraints, the annual hydropower revenue decreases by 16.5 %. An annual increase of 8 % in recreational fishing visits offsets the revenue loss. In conclusion, the developed framework provides knowledge of the costs and benefits of hydropower environmental flow constraints and guides the prioritizing process of environmental measures.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗

NASA NTRS2013

Forest Cover Associated with Improved Child Health and Nutrition: Evidence from the Malawi Demographic and Health Survey and Satellite Data

Healthy forests provide human communities with a host of important ecosystem services, including the provision of food, clean water, fuel, and natural medicines. Yet globally, about 13 million hectares of forests are lost every year, with the biggest losses in Africa and South America. As biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation due to deforestation continue at unprecedented rates, with concomitant loss of ecosystem services, impacts on human health remain poorly understood. Here, we use data from the 2010 Malawi Demographic and Health Survey, linked with satellite remote sensing data on forest cover, to explore and better understand this relationship. Our analysis finds that forest cover is associated with improved health and nutrition outcomes among children in Malawi. Children living in areas with net forest cover loss between 2000 and 2010 were 19% less likely to have a diverse diet and 29% less likely to consume vitamin A-rich foods than children living in areas with no net change in forest cover. Conversely, children living in communities with higher percentages of forest cover were more likely to consume vitamin A-rich foods and less likely to experience diarrhea. Net gain in forest cover over the 10-year period was associated with a 34% decrease in the odds of children experiencing diarrhea (P5.002). Given that our analysis relied on observational data and that there were potential unknown factors for which we could not account, these preliminary findings demonstrate only associations, not causal relationships, between forest cover and child health and nutrition outcomes. However, the findings raise concerns about the potential short- and long-term impacts of ongoing deforestation and ecosystem degradation on community health in Malawi, and they suggest that preventing forest loss and maintaining the ecosystems services of forests are important factors in improving human health and nutrition outcomes.

malawi↗

NASA NTRS2022

Effects of Amazonian Flying Rivers on Frog Biodiversity and Populations in the Atlantic Rainforest

Given the speed at which humans are changing the climate, species with high degrees of endemism may not have time to avoid extinction through adaptation. We investigated through teleconnection analysis the origin of rainfall that determines the phylogenetic diversity of rainforest frogs and the effects of microclimate differences in shaping the morphological traits of isolated populations (which contribute to greater phylogenetic diversity and speciation). We also investigated through teleconnection analysis how deforestation in Amazonia can affect ecosystem services that are fundamental to maintaining the climate of the Atlantic rainforest biodiversity hotspot. Seasonal winds known as flying rivers carry water vapor from Amazonia to the Atlantic Forest, and the breaking of this ecosystem service could lead Atlantic Forest species to population decline and extinction in the short term. Our results suggest that the selection of morphological traits that shape Atlantic Forest frog diversity and their population dynamics are influenced by the Amazonian flying rivers. Our results also suggest that the increases of temperature anomalies in the Atlantic Ocean due to global warming and in the Amazon forest due to deforestation are already breaking this cycle and threaten the biodiversity of the Atlantic Forest hotspot.

anurans↗

NASA NTRS2014

Using Satellite Remote Sensing and Household Survey Data to Assess Human Health and Nutrition Response to Environmental Change

Climate change and degradation of ecosystem services functioning may threaten the ability of current agricultural systems to keep up with demand for adequate and inexpensive food and for clean water, waste disposal and other broader ecosystem services. Human health is likely to be affected by changes occurring across multiple geographic and time scales. Impacts range from increasing transmissibility and the range of vector-borne diseases, such as malaria and yellow fever, to undermining nutrition through deleterious impacts on food production and concomitant increases in food prices. This paper uses case studies to describe methods that make use of satellite remote sensing and Demographic and Health Survey data to better understand individual-level human health and nutrition outcomes. By bringing these diverse datasets together, the connection between environmental change and human health outcomes can be described through new research and analysis.

Health↗

NASA NTRS2023

South Slough Water Resources: Monitoring Changes in Water Quality to Identify Stressors in Eelgrass Extent Throughout the Coos Estuary

The Coos estuary in Southern Oregon supports a variety of habitats, including eelgrass (Zostera marina) meadows. Eelgrass meadows provide shelter and sustenance to local and migratory wildlife, including commercially important fishes, and cultural resources to local communities. These ecosystem services establish eelgrass as an ecologically, economically, and culturally important resource. However, the extent and density of eelgrass meadows within this estuary have declined substantially since 2005, threatening the ecosystem services they provide. NASA DEVELOP partnered with the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve and the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians’ Department of Natural Resources to generate time-series maps of the water quality conditions (chlorophyll-a, turbidity) and eelgrass extent in the Coos estuary from 2016 to 2023 to better understand the conditions driving eelgrass decline. The DEVELOP team used NASA Earth observations including Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI), Landsat 9 OLI-2, and the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 Multispectral Instrument (MSI) to generate these time-series maps. The team faced limitations in the feasibility of detecting eelgrass within the Coos Estuary, including spectral resolution, tidal phase, and turbidity. These limitations indicate additional in situ data collection will be necessary for accurate eelgrass assessment. Meanwhile, the team determined it is feasible to assess turbidity and chlorophyll-a within the Coos Estuary using remote satellite data. These tools enabled the research partners to assess water quality characteristics within the Coos Estuary at a greater spatial scale and may provide a method of inexpensive preliminary investigation of eelgrass meadow locations.

eelgrass↗

NASA NTRS2022

The Marine Biodiversity Observation Network Plankton Workshops: Plankton Ecosystem Function, Biodiversity, and Forecasting—Research Requirements and Applications

Plankton functional diversity is at the core of various ecological processes, including productivity, carbon cycling and sequestration, nutrient cycling, interspecies interactions, food web dynamics and structure. Through these functions, plankton play a critical role in the health of the coastal and open ocean and provide essential ecosystem services. Yet, at present, our understanding of plankton dynamics is insufficient to project how climate change and other human-driven impacts affect the functional diversity of plankton. That limits our ability to predict how critical ecosystem services will change in the future and develop strategies to adapt to these changes.

Plankton↗

NASA NTRS2023

Invasion in the Niger Delta: Remote Sensing of Mangrove Conversion to Invasive Nypa fruticans from 2015-2020

Invasive species are a leading threat to biodiversity worldwide. Nypa palm ( Nypa fruticans ) has emerged as the predominant invasive species in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. While endemic mangroves have high rates of carbon sequestration, stabilize coastlines, and protect biodiversity, Nypa does not provide these services outside its native region of Southeast Asia. Oil exploration and urbanization in this region also exacerbates mangrove loss and Nypa spread. As Nypa is difficult to distinguish from endemic mangrove species in remotely sensed data, estimates of mangrove and ecosystem services losses in Nigeria are highly uncertain. Here, we analyze multisensor satellite data with machine learning to quantify the rapid expansion of Nypa from 2015-2020 in Nigeria. Using Landsat imagery and random forest classification, we quantify total potential Nypa extent in Nigeria in 2019. We then produced a Nypa extent map using iterative combinations of Sentinel-1 SAR, Sentinel-2 MSI, and ALOS PALSAR. Random forest classifications using SAR data from ALOS and Sentinel-1 were best suited for mapping Nypa extent with similar accuracies (78% and 75% respectively). Based on data availability and accuracy, we focused our change analysis on Sentinel-1 SAR. Our results show ~28,000 ha of mangroves were converted to Nypa in Nigeria by 2020 and covered a larger extent than endemic mangroves, compounding the effect of the existing degradation and deforestation in the region. We also compared forest height and complexity estimates from GEDI (Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation) LiDAR to further distinguish between endemic mangroves and Nypa in three dimensions. Nypa structural variability, measured by top-of-canopy height, vegetation cover, plant area index, and foliage height diversity, was lower than that of mangroves. At current rates of Nypa expansion, the entire area of study would be invaded by Nypa by 2028, with potentially detrimental consequences to the ecosystem services provided by mangroves.

GEE↗

DOE OSTI2024

Solar Farm’s Microclimates Effects: Predicting Abundance and Visiting Frequency of Pollinators

The solar farm is garnering attention for its contribution to ecosystem services, particularly in supporting pollinators. Although numerous studies have focused on the distinct microclimates of solar farms, there has been limited effort to validate and model the impact of these conditions on insects [1]. To effectively evaluate and leverage the ecosystem services from solar farms in policymaking, understanding how insects react to microclimate variations in diverse designs and management methods is essential. This study aims to validate and model the impact of temperature and shade at solar farms on pollinator populations and their frequency of pollination as well as compare the potential for increased pollination under different types of panels within a solar grazing setup.

Chung, Hyun Yong↗

NASA NTRS2020

Land management and climate change determine second‐generation bioenergy potential of the US Northern Great Plains

Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) has been proposed as a potential climate mitigation strategy raising concerns over trade‐offs with existing ecosystem services. We evaluate the feasibility of BECCS in the Upper Missouri River Basin (UMRB), a landscape with diverse land use, ownership, and bioenergy potential. We develop land‐use change scenarios and a switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) crop functional type to use in a land‐surface model to simulate second‐generation bioenergy production. By the end of this century, average annual switchgrass production over the UMRB ranges from 60 to 210 Tg dry mass/year and is dependent on the Representative Concentration Pathway for greenhouse gas emissions and on land‐use change assumptions. Under our simple phase‐in assumptions this results in a cumulative total production of 2,000–6,000 Tg C over the study period with the upper estimates only possible in the absence of climate change. Switchgrass yields decreased as average CO2 concentrations and temperatures increased, suggesting the effect of elevated atmospheric CO2 was small because of its C4 photosynthetic pathway. By the end of the 21st century, the potential energy stored annually in harvested switchgrass averaged between 1 and 4 EJ/year assuming perfect conversion efficiency, or an annual electrical generation capacity of 7,000–28,000 MW assuming current bioenergy efficiency rates. Trade‐offs between bioenergy and ecosystem services were identified, including cumulative direct losses of 1,000–2,600 Tg C stored in natural ecosystems from land‐use change by 2090. Total cumulative losses of ecosystem carbon stocks were higher than the potential ~300 Tg C in fossil fuel emissions from the single largest power plant in the region over the same time period, and equivalent to potential carbon removal from the atmosphere from using biofuels grown in the same region. Numerous trade‐offs from BECCS expansion in the UMRB must be balanced against the potential benefits of a carbon‐negative energy system.

climate change↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Assessing Environmental and Socioeconomic Factors of Urban Flood Vulnerability in Kansas City, Kansas

Pluvial flooding, over-saturated ground, and drainage systems disproportionately impact historically marginalized urban neighborhoods during extreme rainfall events. These communities are impacted by physical and socioeconomic factors that make them vulnerable to flooding events, such as high concentrations of impervious landcover, high precipitation rates, and a combined sewer system framework. Despite known vulnerability to environmental hazards, understanding potential pluvial street-level flooding events are largely unknown. Using the open-source National Capital Project’s Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) Urban Flood Risk Mitigation model, NASA DEVELOP examined neighborhood scale runoff retention and potential economic damages for risk mapping throughout Kansas City, Kansas. The generated outputs aid in identifying vulnerable neighborhoods susceptible to flooding and in need of future intervention. Previous studies have applied this model framework to understand urban flood vulnerability regarding ecosystem services, urban planning, and flood mitigation strategies. We utilized the InVEST outputs to develop indices pertaining to environmental justice factors of race, socioeconomic status, social vulnerability, and health. The findings indicate that historically redlined neighborhoods in Kansas City, Kansas face disproportional impacts from flood events and are subject to greater environmental stressors. This research provides an approach to utilizing an open-source flood vulnerability model to empower neighborhood-scale environmental justice analysis, enhancing the local communities' understanding of present-day impacts of historical environmental injustices.

Hadwynne Gross↗

NASA NTRS2020

Delineation of vulnerable areas to water erosion in a mountain region using SDR-InVEST model: A case study of the Ourika watershed, Morocco

The Ourika watershed is characterized by higher than average flood flows, a rugged topography, a sparse vegetation cover and a friable substrate that makes it vulnerable to soil erosion. Soil is an important non-renewable asset capital, providing several ecosystem services that sustain life through physical and biological regulation processes. The loss, or otherwise, redistribution of biota by soil erosion in the Ourika watershed has received little attention and thus constitutes a key knowledge gap that needs to be addressed. This study quantifies the level of erosion and maps its spatial distribution in the watershed using the Sediment Delivery Ratio (SDR) of the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs model (InVEST3.6.0). The SDR maps the overland sediment generation and delivery to the stream at the watershed level using rainfall, soil properties, topography, cover management and cropping practices as predefined set of input variables. Recommended internal model calibration was used and results were compared to similar studies carried out in different parts of Morocco for validation. The results reveal that 93% of the watershed is subject to a strong rainfall aggressiveness greater than 50 MJ mm ha–1 h–1 yr1 under an average rainfall intensity of 541 mm/year, rainfall capacity to initiate the detachment and transport of soil particles by runoff, and only 11.5% of the watershed area is protected with vegetative cover. We find that overall, the Ourika watershed is losing its soil to erosion at an alarming average rate of 258.48 ton.ha–1.yr–1, a rate well above the tolerable threshold of 7ton.ha–1.yr–1. The spatial distribution of this loss shows areas that need to be urgently remedied. The primary factors for soil erosion in the Ourika watershed appear to be related to the aggressive nature of local rainfall and the inherent susceptibility of soils, which can be costly to this cash-crop region. Because rainfall intensity, soil properties, and topography are intrinsic characteristics of the watershed, we suggest that seasonally adapted cropping rotations that maintains conservative practices with a high cover management may reduce soil erosion in the Ourika watershed.

Erosion↗

NASA NTRS2020

Application of Remote Sensing for Ex-Ante Decision Support and Evaluating Impact

Deforestation is an environmental stressor that dramatically threatens biodiversity while having adverse, deep-rooted socioeconomic impacts. Interventions to address deforestation require considerable long-term investments; therefore, assessing their impact is crucial. The UN Convention on Biological Diversity encourages establishing Protected Areas (PAs) as a strategy to conserve biodiversity, secure ecosystem services, support local livelihoods, and reduce climate change impacts. The Global Environment Facility (GEF) has supported the conservation and management of PAs, yet site accessibility and data availability present challenges in assessing PAs using traditional evaluation methods. We present a novel application of satellite Earth observations for evaluating the effectiveness and impact of PAs as a deforestation mitigation strategy. Geospatial analysis and ecological forecasting methodologies provide an efficient way to quantify land cover change, estimate above-ground carbon stock, and evaluate ecosystem services provided by the PAs ex-ante. We demonstrate the value of a geospatial approach through evaluation of GEF-supported PAs in Kenya.

Remote sensing↗

DOE OSTI2025

Ground-Active Arthropod Diversity Under Energycane and Biomass Sorghum Production

Energycane and biomass sorghum are two of the most promising cellulosic energy crops in the southeastern US. Research on these two energy crops has focused mainly on biomass production, and there is a lack of knowledge on their ability to promote biodiversity and ecosystem services. This paper presents results from a comprehensive study on ground-active arthropod diversity in seven sites across five states in the southeastern US (Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas). Pitfall traps were deployed four times during each crop season for energycane, biomass sorghum, and a local reference conventional crop from 2020 to 2022. Arthropod abundance (individuals/(trap × day)) values were 4.9 ± 0.46, 3.7 ± 0.18, and 2.6 ± 0.16 (mean ± stderr) for conventional crops, biomass sorghum, and energycane, respectively, with a significant difference found only between conventional crops and energycane. Individuals were identified to arthropod orders, and Hill’s diversity indices were calculated based on the number of individuals in each arthropod order instead of the number of individuals in each arthropod species. Order-based arthropod richness values were 5.3, 5.2, and 4.8 for biomass sorghum, conventional crops, and energycane, with significant difference found only between biomass sorghum and energycane. There was no significant difference in the order-based Shannon diversity and Simpson diversity between the three crop types. The effective number of arthropod orders for the two energy crops decreased from 5.0 to 3.4 to 2.9 with increasing order of diversity from arthropod richness to Shannon diversity to Simpson diversity. The explained variability by environmental factors also decreased with increasing Hill’s order of diversity. The results from this study indicate no significant advantage in order-based arthropod diversity in growing biomass sorghum and energycane. This research fills a critical knowledge gap in understanding the impacts of cellulosic energy crop production on biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Yang, Yubin↗

DOE OSTI2026

Differences in urban plant community compositions across an urban-rural gradient in Knoxville, TN

Urban forests, or vegetation in areas under heavy human influence, provide many ecosystem services to urban residents such as localized cooling via evapotranspiration, shade, filtering of air pollution, and the associated health benefits of natural spaces. In order to quantify the magnitude of localized cooling by trees growing in varying levels of urbanization (based on % impervious surfaces, e.g., buildings, pavement), urban forest species composition, tree size, and tree density must be characterized. As a part of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s (ORNL) urban forest temperature study, we conducted tree censuses in five Knoxville city parks where ORNL meteorological stations are deployed. Moreover, we measured every woody plant ≥ 5 cm diameter at breast height (DBH) within a 50 m radius of each site’s meteorological station for its DBH and species identification. When possible, individuals were identified down to species. Certain genera (Quercus spp., Carya spp., Pinus spp.) were identified down to genera in interest of time. Individual and total site basal area were calculated from measured DBH data. Results show notable differences in urban plant community compositions and total woody plant basal area across sites, with more urban sites closer to downtown (West View and SEEED) having lower tree basal area than the more suburban sites (West Hills, Cumberland Estates, and Victor Ashe). We identified 54 species across all sites, with West Hills and Victor Ashe having the highest species diversity. Our results show differences in forest compositions and sizes across Knoxville, which are currently informing ORNL’s evapotranspiration estimates for each site. Data Summary: Census data for West Hills (WH), Cumberland Estates (CE), Victor Ashe (VA), West View (WV), and Socially Equal Energy Efficient Development or SEEED (SD) urban forests in Knoxville, TN, USA, including tree size based on diameter at breast height (DBH; 1.3 m), species identification (Latin and common names), and basal area per stem (BA=π×[.5*DBH]^2). Field data are summarized in this file: “Community_Composition_Data.CSV”. Site-specific data detailing each site’s coordinates, number of stems measured at DBH, average tree DBH, α-diversity (number of species present), and total site basal area (sum of individual basal areas per site) are in this file: “Site_Comparisons.CSV”.

Warren, Jeffrey [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000206804697)↗

DOE OSTI2025

Stepping into the Midwest Bioeconomy: Stakeholder Engagement and Geospatial Tools to Assist in Perennial Bioenergy Crop Decision Making and Entrepreneurship

This project, “Ecosystem Services and Farm Entrepreneurship Technical Assistance,” was a three-year project originally planned for FY22–FY24. Due to a late start and a few extensions, it is being completed in early FY25. This project explored opportunities to support the deployment of a bioeconomy with a circular, more sustainable supply chain. Using a tool developed by Argonne to identify agricultural areas suitable for use in the bioeconomy, we sought to create opportunities in the bioeconomy as biomass producers, bioenergy users, and environmental entrepreneurs. We proposed to focus at the beginning on enhancing the tool’s capabilities, while engaging with key stakeholders to improve and expand the tool’s functionality for all potential stakeholders in the bioeconomy. We believe that expanding our tools and technologies, coupled with conversations in agricultural spaces, will be needed as we continue to explore how best to offer farmers whole-of supply-chain opportunities to participate in the bioeconomy. Through this project we have continued to gain a better understanding of the ways in which farmers, landowners, bioenergy users, and environmental entrepreneurs may approach the bioeconomy. In addition, as we improve our analytic toolkit, we can continue to refine our communication and the ways in which we can valuate the bioeconomy. Refining these tools allows us to dive deeper into conversations around plausible policies and drivers for future bioeconomy investment and engagement by stakeholders. By working with farmers and agricultural landowners to enable a sustainable bioeconomy business model, enhance their energy options, and recover resources from their waste streams, this project directly responds to the Bioenergy Technology Office’s (BETO) priorities of building a resilient energy economy. It addresses BETO’s focus on fostering the development and adoption of energy technologies that enable the conversion of waste to energy, efficient land use, and robust job creation. By establishing a technical assistance program that develops capabilities and practices in agricultural areas to implement a bioeconomy future, this program will develop an important linkage between technology being developed at U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories and the agricultural communities of the Midwest. This project focuses on farmers with lower productivity farmland. Because less productive lands create a more difficult revenue stream for conventional crops, these farmers may therefore be more open to alternative agricultural land management regimes. Consequently, the technical assistance program and the methodologies for targeting perennial bioenergy crop application on marginal land provide a distinct opportunity to engage with and invest in the bioeconomy in these economically stressed areas. Stakeholders in this project include farmers and landowners, local conservation organizations (NRCS, SWCS, etc.), universities, non-profit environmental and agricultural entities, farm consultants, environmental regulators, and industry, including the industries working on conversion technologies, anaerobic digestion, pyrolysis, and biochar generation, and the companies interested in trading or purchasing/supporting the valuation of ecosystem services (ES).

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

NASA NTRS2021

Mapping the Extent of Mangrove Ecosystem Degradation by Integrating an Ecological Conceptual Model with Satellite Data

Anthropogenic and natural disturbances can cause degradation of ecosystems, reducing their capacity to sustain biodiversity and provide ecosystem services. Understanding the extent of ecosystem degradation is critical for estimating risks to ecosystems, yet there are few existing methods to map degradation at the ecosystem scale and none using freely available satellite data for mangrove ecosystems. In this study, we developed a quantitative classification model of mangrove ecosystem degradation using freely available earth observation data. Crucially, a conceptual model of mangrove ecosystem degradation was established to identify suitable remote sensing variables that support the quantitative classification model, bridging the gap between satellite-derived variables and ecosystem degradation with explicit ecological links. We applied our degradation model to two case-studies, the mangroves of Rakhine State, Myanmar, which are severely threatened by anthropogenic disturbances, and Shark River within the Everglades National Park, USA, which is periodically disturbed by severe tropical storms. Our model suggested that 40% (597 km2) of the extent of mangroves in Rakhine showed evidence of degradation. In the Everglades, the model suggested that the extent of degraded mangrove forest increased from 5.1% to 97.4% following the Category 4 Hurricane Irma in 2017. Quantitative accuracy assessments indicated the model achieved overall accuracies of 77.6% and 79.1% for the Rakhine and the Everglades, respectively. We highlight that using an ecological conceptual model as the basis for building quantitative classification models to estimate the extent of ecosystem degradation ensures the ecological relevance of the classification models. Our developed method enables researchers to move beyond only mapping ecosystem distribution to condition and degradation as well. These results can help support ecosystem risk assessments, natural capital accounting, and restoration planning and provide quantitative estimates of ecosystem degradation for new global biodiversity targets.

Calvin K. F. Lee↗