Understanding the causes and effects of species invasions is a priority in ecology and conservation biology. One of the crucial steps in evaluating the impact of invasive species is to map changes in their actual and potential distribution and relative abundance across a wide region over an appropriate time span. While direct and indirect remote sensing approaches have long been used to assess the invasion of plant species, the distribution of invasive animals is mainly based on indirect methods that rely on environmental proxies of conditions suitable for colonization by a particular species. The aim of this article is to review recent efforts in the predictive modelling of the spread of both plant and animal invasive species using remote sensing, and to stimulate debate on the potential use of remote sensing in biological invasion monitoring and forecasting. Specifically, the challenges and drawbacks of remote sensing techniques are discussed in relation to: i) developing species distribution models, an...

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Potential of remote sensing to predict species invasions A modelling perspective

The Microwave Temperature Vegetation Drought Index (MTVDI) based on AMSR-E brightness temperatures for long-term drought assessment across China (2003-2010).

Locust outbreaks occur on all continents except Antarctica and can affect the livelihoods of one in 10 people on Earth. To prevent economic and environmental losses, locust breeding areas should be periodically monitored, and an early detection-early response strategy should be in place. Traditional, ground survey methods are inefficient to adequately address the large spatial scale of the locust problem. Remote Sensing and the associated geospatial technologies can provide timely data to assess the risk of impending locust outbreaks. This information could be used for targeted preventive management actions in the locust breeding areas. Remotely sensed data are used for monitoring habitats of certain species such as the Desert, Migratory and Australian Plague locusts. However, the vast potential of this technology remains untapped for other locusts. This chapter provides a review of remote sensing and GIS concepts, types of data collected by various remote sensing satellites, and applications of geospatial tools for locust habitat monitoring and risk assessment.

Locust Habitat Monitoring and Risk Assessment Using Remote Sensing and GIS Technologies

Recently, locust outbreaks around the world have destroyed agricultural and natural vegetation and caused massive damage endangering food security. Unusual heavy rainfalls in habitats of the desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria) and lack of monitoring due to political conflicts or inaccessibility of those habitats lead to massive desert locust outbreaks and swarms migrating over the Arabian Peninsula, East Africa, India and Pakistan. At the same time, swarms of the Moroccan locust (Dociostaurus maroccanus) in some Central Asian countries and swarms of the Italian locust (Calliptamus italicus) in Russia and China destroyed crops despite developed and ongoing monitoring and control measurements. These recent events underline that the risk and damage caused by locust pests is as present as ever and affects 100 million of human lives despite technical progress in locust monitoring, prediction and control approaches. Remote sensing has become one of the most important data sources in locust management. Since the 1980s, remote sensing data and applications have accompanied many locust management activities and contributed to an improved and more effective control of locust outbreaks and plagues. Recently, open-access remote sensing data archives as well as progress in cloud computing provide unprecedented opportunity for remote sensing-based locust management and research. Additionally, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems bring up new prospects for a more effective and faster locust control. Nevertheless, the full capacity of available remote sensing applications and possibilities have not been exploited yet. This review paper provides a comprehensive and quantitative overview of international research articles focusing on remote sensing application for locust management and research. We reviewed 110 articles published over the last four decades, and categorized them into different aspects and main research topics to summarize achievements and gaps for further research and application development. The results reveal a strong focus on three species-the desert locust, the migratory locust (Locusta migratoria), and the Australian plague locust (Chortoicetes terminifera)-and corresponding regions of interest. There is still a lack of international studies for other pest species such as the Italian locust, the Moroccan locust, the Central American locust (Schistocerca piceifrons), the South American locust (Schistocerca cancellata), the brown locust (Locustana pardalina) and the red locust (Nomadacris septemfasciata). In terms of applied sensors, most studies utilized Advanced Very-High-Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), Satellite Pour l'Observation de la Terre VEGETATION (SPOT-VGT), Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) as well as Landsat data focusing mainly on vegetation monitoring or land cover mapping. Application of geomorphological metrics as well as radar-based soil moisture data is comparably rare despite previous acknowledgement of their importance for locust outbreaks. Despite great advance and usage of available remote sensing resources, we identify several gaps and potential for future research to further improve the understanding and capacities of the use of remote sensing in supporting locust outbreak- research and management.

Yunjian Ge

Papers

Relationship between oriental migratory locust plague and soil moisture extracted from MODIS data