Biodiversity is a complex term but it essentially encompasses life in all its variety, ranging from individual genes to entire ecosystems. The legendary biologist Edward O. Wilson defines biodiversity as “the totality of all inherited variation in the life forms of Earth”. The loss of biodiversity due to human activities and its negative effect on ecosystems are well documented.
Behind the Paper: Comparing machine learning algorithms using Sentinel-2 data
The field of machine learning is moving fast, and it seems that new fancy algorithms coming out every week. Sometimes, it is confusing to figure out which algorithms are best suited for which purpose. This is particularly the case when it comes to land-use and land-cover classification using multidimensional satellite imagery because most of the new algorithms are tested with either binary or uni-dimensional data.
Behind the Paper: Combining science and art to understand environmental change
A couple of years ago, my colleague and friend Emma Li Johansson approached me with an interesting proposition. Her idea was that the combination of remotely-sensed land cover and and land use change maps and participatory paintings of people’s perceptions of land change might provide useful information in understanding the drivers of change. She didn’t have to say any more because I was sold. It was a solid idea with an innovative interdisciplinary workflow and high potential to provide valuable outcomes.
Behind the Paper: Testing a new satellite-derived vegetation index in a new biome
The last chapter of my PhD dissertation was published earlier this year in the International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation. From conception to publication, this paper took about two-and-a-half years of work. It signifies the end of my PhD era, so to speak. The idea came from my supervisor, who suggested that testing the relatively new Plant Phenology Index (PPI) in semi-arid biomes would be a worthwhile cause because its only been evaluated in the boreal biome.