Advances in estimating species diversity by remote sensing: a challenge for biogeography

Many geospatial tools have been advocated in spatial ecology and biogeography to estimate biodiversity and its changes over space and time. Such information is essential in designing effective strategies for biodiversity conservation and management. Remote sensing is one of the most powerful approaches to identify biodiversity hotspots and predict changes in species composition in reduced time and costs. This is because, with respect to field-based methods, it allows to derive complete spatial coverages of the Earth surface under study in a short period of time. Furthermore, remote sensing provides repeated coverages of field sites, thus making studies of temporal changes in biodiversity possible. In this talk I will discuss, from a conceptual point of view, the potential of remote sensing in estimating biodiversity using various diversity indices, including alpha and beta measurements. I will also review case studies that have improved the quality of species distribution models using remote sensing data as predictors. Lastly, I will address the prospective of using spectral information to effectively detect spatial autocorrelation when estimating species diversity among sites