http://hdl.handle.net/10174/42 2026-05-31T11:03:08Z 2026-05-31T11:03:08Z Valerio, Francesco Pereira, Pedro Pedro, Salgueiro Godinho, Carlos Lourenço, Rui Silva, João Paulo Gameiro, João Santana, Joana Leitão, Pedro Moreira, Francisco Lousa, Hugo Catry, Inês Reino, Luis Safara, Jorge Pedroso, Rui Venâncio, Luis Martins, Ricardo Morgado, Rui Marques, Ana Burfin, Thomas Guise, Inês Oliveira, André Neiva, Sara Faria, João Crispim-Mendes, Tiago Corado, Leonel Basile, Marco Godinho, Sérgio http://hdl.handle.net/10174/42064 2026-05-28T13:39:31Z 2025-12-05T00:00:00Z

Title: Using GEDI‑derived vegetation structural metrics to evaluate avian biodiversity patterns in Mediterranean habitats Authors: Valerio, Francesco; Pereira, Pedro; Pedro, Salgueiro; Godinho, Carlos; Lourenço, Rui; Silva, João Paulo; Gameiro, João; Santana, Joana; Leitão, Pedro; Moreira, Francisco; Lousa, Hugo; Catry, Inês; Reino, Luis; Safara, Jorge; Pedroso, Rui; Venâncio, Luis; Martins, Ricardo; Morgado, Rui; Marques, Ana; Burfin, Thomas; Guise, Inês; Oliveira, André; Neiva, Sara; Faria, João; Crispim-Mendes, Tiago; Corado, Leonel; Basile, Marco; Godinho, Sérgio Editors: Gonzálvez, Pablo; Guerra-Hernández, Juan; Ferreiro, Eduardo Abstract: Avian communities are highly sensitive to variations in vegetation structure, which in turn is strongly influenced by fine-scale habitat heterogeneity. Traditional categorical land-cover maps often fail to capture this heterogeneity, limiting our ability to monitor avian biodiversity across broad extents. To address this, we present a remote-sensing framework that integrates spaceborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) metrics from the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) with Sentinel‑1 radar and Sentinel‑2 multispectral data to generate vertical and horizontal vegetation structure encompassing biodiversity-rich environments. Our study covers three areas with contrasting Mediterranean habitats in southern Portugal—woodland, open woodland, and grasslands—where breeding birds were surveyed between 2020 and 2024. We used random forests models to evaluate the ability of GEDI‑derived standard metrics (RH75, RH95, PAI, FHD, AGBD) and structural heterogeneity metrics (Shannon entropy, Rao’s Q), to predict avian species richness and abundance along the woodland-grassland habitat gradient. We then developed a targeted model for an intermediate open woodland landscape (montado), using the tawny owl (Strix aluco) as a model species, to evaluate how those same predictors explain local abundance patterns. Finally, we included common aggregation methods (e.g., mean, maximum) for each metric in the analysis, as well as the effect of scale (75 and 225 m) at the plot level where bird surveys were conducted. This study demonstrated that GEDI-derived upper canopy heterogeneity (Rao’s Q of RH75 at 225 m), aboveground biomass, and canopy density together explained over 70% of the variation in avian species richness and total abundance. Grasslands, despite the lower overall densities, supported key specialists such as the little bustard (Tetrax tetrax), underscoring their essential role alongside structurally rich wood pastures. Although the random forests model for the tawny owl accounted for a smaller share of variance, it revealed a significant positive response to canopy height and a bimodal relationship with foliage height diversity (FHD). Together, these findings emphasize that Mediterranean bird communities depend upon a mosaic of habitat structures, such as layered woodlands with canopy gaps and understory clusters providing nesting, roosting, and foraging niches, while open terrains sustain species adapted to sparse cover. By integrating spaceborne LiDAR from GEDI with Sentinel‑1 radar and Sentinel‑2 optical data, our framework offers a scalable, fine‑grained approach for biodiversity monitoring across Mediterranean landscapes that are overlooked for such applications. We recommend that conservation strategies maintain both three-dimensional woodland complexity and retain extensive grassland habitats to support flagship species. Future work linking GEDI metrics with detailed ground-based microhabitat surveys and avifaunal monitoring will be crucial for pinpointing the structural drivers of species distributions and refining management practices to maximize both richness and abundance.

2025-12-05T00:00:00Z Godinho, Sérgio Corado, Leonel Benevides, Pedro Costa, Hugo Caetano, Mário http://hdl.handle.net/10174/42063 2026-05-28T13:39:12Z 2025-12-05T00:00:00Z

Title: Land Cover mapping by combining GEDI-derived vertical metrics with SAR and multispectral data Authors: Godinho, Sérgio; Corado, Leonel; Benevides, Pedro; Costa, Hugo; Caetano, Mário Editors: Gonzálvez, Pablo; Guerra-Hernández, Juan; Ferreiro, Eduardo Abstract: Accurate land cover mapping is essential for understanding ecological processes and informing sustainable land management. This study presents a two-stage remote sensing framework that first generates wall-to-wall maps of four key vegetation structure variables [canopy height (RH95), foliage height diversity (FHD), plant area index, and aboveground biomass (AGB)] using random forest models trained with Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) footprints and satellite-derived predictors. The second stage integrates these maps with multispectral (Sentinel-2) and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) (Sentinel-1C-band and ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 L-band) data to improve land cover classification across two contrasting landscapes in mainland Portugal. From the first stage, the resulting canopy height maps were independently validated using airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR), showing strong agreement (R2 = 0.64–0.63; RMSE = 2.6–5.3 m). In the second stage, these structural layers were combined with seasonal and spectral-temporal metrics from Sentinel-2, as well as with texture and backscatter data from Sentinel-1 and PALSAR-2, totalling 230 predictor variables. Land cover classification achieved high accuracy (overall accuracy (OA): 96.0% and 91.7% in the two study areas), with GEDI-derived structural metrics significantly improving class separability, particularly among forest and shrubland types. Variable importance analyses highlighted the synergistic contribution of LiDAR, SAR, and spectral data, with FHD, vegetation canopy height (VCH), and AGB ranking among the most influential predictors. This study demonstrates the value of integrating spaceborne LiDAR with complementary remote sensing data for both vegetation structural modelling and high-resolution land cover mapping. The results reinforce the potential of GEDI in operational land monitoring frameworks, particularly in complex or structurally diverse ecosystems.

2025-12-05T00:00:00Z Crispim-Mendes, Tiago Marques, Ana Teresa Valerio, Francesco Godinho, Sérgio Pita, Ricardo Silva, João Paulo http://hdl.handle.net/10174/42060 2026-05-28T13:37:50Z 2025-03-06T00:00:00Z

Title: Using spatially explicit individual-based models to prioritize conservation strategies: A case study on the little bustard Authors: Crispim-Mendes, Tiago; Marques, Ana Teresa; Valerio, Francesco; Godinho, Sérgio; Pita, Ricardo; Silva, João Paulo Abstract: Steppe birds are among the most threatened terrestrial birds worldwide, requiring urgent, well-planned, and cost-effective conservation strategies to halt population declines. The little bustard (Tetrax tetrax) is one of those species that has experienced sharp population declines across its western range, yet the effectiveness of different management interventions remains poorly understood. Predictive models, such as Individual-Based Models (IBM), provide powerful tools to anticipate and assess the effectiveness of conservation scenarios for endangered species, supporting evidence-based management decisions. In this study, we developed a spatially explicit demographic IBM to evaluate conservation strategies for the little bustard in Extremadura, Spain, where the species faces a skewed sex ratio towards males, habitat degradation and high anthropogenic mortality. Our model integrates high-resolution habitat suitability data with demographic parameters to simulate individual behaviours and interactions with the environment, forecasting habitat use and population dynamics under different management strategies. The model calibration process supported the hypothesis that nest, chick, and adult survival positively correlate with habitat suitability. Notably, our results suggest that the unbalanced sex ratio is partially driven by low female survival rates in less favourable habitats. We simulated conservation strategies focused on habitat improvement and the mitigation of anthropogenic mortality over 50 years (2022–2072). The results indicate that habitat enhancements alone are insufficient to reverse population declines without complementary efforts to reduce anthropogenic mortality. This finding emphasizes the need for an integrated, long-term conservation strategy that combines habitat management with proactive measures to mitigate human-induced mortality, ensuring the sustainable recovery of little bustard populations. More broadly, this study highlights the value of IBMs as high-resolution, spatially explicit decision-support tools for conservation planning, offering critical insights into prioritizing and implementing cost-effective strategies.

2025-03-06T00:00:00Z Cimarelli, Stefano Goglio, Pietro Serpa, Dalila Quagliolo, Carlotta Dorca-Preda, Teodora Sadhu, Abbigel Rai, Kamala Roebeling, Peter Cipolla, Anna Maria Schneider, Anne Smetana, Sergyi Vasconcelos, Marta Kartal, Umut Joensuu, Katri Petrusen, Janos-Istvan Dauget, Sylvie Falchetti-Cartier, Axel Wilkinson, Thomas Iannetta, Peter http://hdl.handle.net/10174/42056 2026-05-27T10:06:42Z 2025-11-25T00:00:00Z

Title: Integrating ecosystem services provided by legumes in agricultural life cycle assessment (LCA): A review of methodologies Authors: Cimarelli, Stefano; Goglio, Pietro; Serpa, Dalila; Quagliolo, Carlotta; Dorca-Preda, Teodora; Sadhu, Abbigel; Rai, Kamala; Roebeling, Peter; Cipolla, Anna Maria; Schneider, Anne; Smetana, Sergyi; Vasconcelos, Marta; Kartal, Umut; Joensuu, Katri; Petrusen, Janos-Istvan; Dauget, Sylvie; Falchetti-Cartier, Axel; Wilkinson, Thomas; Iannetta, Peter Abstract: Agricultural production is endangering agroecosystems health and functioning, compromising the delivery of many ecosystem services (ES) to prioritize provisioning. Legumes’ inclusion in cropping systems appears as a promising solution towards the ecological intensification of agriculture in Europe, providing a multiplicity of ES. Agricultural Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) does not explicitly assess ES; however, the potential benefits offered by an improved representation of agroecosystem processes reveal an urgent need for ES integration into LCA. Through a systematic review of scientific literature, we collected a list of methods applied to assess legumes ES in European conditions. Methods were grouped following the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES) and through general ES definitions. At the end of the process, 148 methods were found, of which: 81.8% were associated with Regulation & Maintenance services; 8.1% to Provisioning services; and 10.1% described methods related to the combination of different CICES sections. No methods for Cultural services were found. Most of the methods were based on direct measurements, except for those ES already part of the current LCA frameworks. The Regulation & Maintenance section is the area with the most fragmented knowledge, with some ES presenting well-established methodologies (e.g. climate change buffering and leaching regulation) and others which are currently not fully integrated into LCA, such as biodiversity maintenance, pest control, and pollination. Future research should focus on LCA methodologies for the integration of emerging agriculture-related ES. Achieving more comprehensive LCA is necessary to improve the understanding of legumes’ role in maintaining agroecosystems functionality.

2025-11-25T00:00:00Z