Reviewing the Spectral Variation Hypothesis: Twenty years in the tumultuous sea of biodiversity estimation by remote sensing

Torresani, Michele; Rossi, Christian; Perrone, Michela; Hauser, Leon T; Féret, Jean-Baptiste; Moudrý, Vítězslav; Simova, Petra; Ricotta, Carlo; Foody, Giles M; Kacic, Patrick; Feilhauer, Hannes; Malavasi, Marco; Tognetti, Roberto; Rocchini, Duccio

Abstract

Twenty years ago, the Spectral Variation Hypothesis (SVH) was formulated as a means to link between different aspects of biodiversity and spatial patterns of spectral data (e.g. reflectance) measured from optical remote sensing. This hypothesis initially assumed a positive correlation between spatial variations computed from raster data and spatial variations in the environment, which would in turn correlate with species richness: following SVH, areas characterized by high spectral heterogeneity (SH) should be related to a higher number of available ecological niches, more likely to host a higher number of species when combined. The past decade has witnessed major evolution and progress both in terms of remotely sensed data available, techniques to analyze them, and ecological questions to be addressed. SVH has been tested in many contexts with a variety of remote sensing data, and this recent corpus highlighted potentials and pitfalls. The aim of this paper is to review and discuss recent methodological developments based on SVH, leading progress in ecological knowledge as well as conceptual uncertainties and limitations for the application of SVH to estimate different dimensions of biodiversity. In particular, we systematically review more than 130 publications and provide an overview of ecosystems, the different remote sensing data characteristics (i.e., spatial, spectral and temporal resolution), metrics, tools, and applications for which the SVH was tested and the strength of the association between SH and biodiversity metrics reported by each study. In conclusion, this paper serves as a guideline for researchers navigating the complexities of applying the SVH, offering insights into the current state of knowledge and future research possibilities in the field of biodiversity estimation by remote sensing data.

Citation

Torresani, M., Rossi, C., Perrone, M., Hauser, L. T., Féret, J.-B., Moudrý, V., Simova, P., Ricotta, C., Foody, G. M., Kacic, P., Feilhauer, H., Malavasi, M., Tognetti, R., & Rocchini, D. (2024). Reviewing the Spectral Variation Hypothesis: Twenty years in the tumultuous sea of biodiversity estimation by remote sensing. Ecological Informatics, 82, Article 102702. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2024.102702

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 22, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Jul 3, 2024
• Publication Date: 2024-09
• Deposit Date: Jul 19, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 19, 2024
• Journal: Ecological Informatics
• Print ISSN: 1574-9541
• Electronic ISSN: 1574-9541
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 82
• Article Number: 102702
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2024.102702
• Keywords: Biodiversity; Environmental heterogeneity; Mapping; Remote sensing; Review; Spectral heterogeneity; Spectral variation hypothesis
• Additional Information: This article is maintained by: Elsevier; Article Title: Reviewing the Spectral Variation Hypothesis: Twenty years in the tumultuous sea of biodiversity estimation by remote sensing; Journal Title: Ecological Informatics; CrossRef DOI link to publisher maintained version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2024.102702; Content Type: article; Copyright: © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.