EO·Atlas
Biodiversity and habitat
Biodiversity and habitat assessment uses EO-derived habitat extent, ecosystem structure, vegetation-community proxies, and Essential Biodiversity Variable supporting indicators, while most species are not counted directly from orbit.[1][2]
Relevant modalities include imaging spectroscopy for vegetation composition, LiDAR for canopy height and vertical structure, SAR for forest structure proxies, and multispectral indices for habitat condition.[2][3]
Habitat extent and structure indicators are operational, while species-level biodiversity inference remains model-mediated.[1][2]
Hyperspectral classification supports vegetation-community and habitat-trait mapping from surface reflectance, and spaceborne LiDAR measures canopy height and vertical structure as habitat-complexity indicators.[2][3]
Polarimetric SAR retrieves scattering structure related to forest volume and habitat structure under cloud, vegetation indices map condition and phenology as broad habitat-quality proxies, and optical-SAR fusion combines spectral and structural signals for habitat classification in cloudy regions.[2][3]
What's available today
3 services and 68 sensors. Start with the most-used; switch to Filter for the full catalogue.
- [1]GEO BON Essential Biodiversity Variables overviewagency doc2026-05-27
- [2]NASA GEDI mission overviewagency doc2026-05-27
- [3]Remote sensing enabled Essential Biodiversity Variables for biodiversity assessment and monitoringpeer reviewed2026-05-27
How to cite this page
Plain text
Biodiversity and habitat. EO-Atlas, SpectraWorks B.V., last reviewed 2026-05-27. https://eo-atlas.org/topics/biodiversity (CC BY 4.0)
BibTeX
@misc{eoatlas:topics:biodiversity,
title = {Biodiversity and habitat},
author = {{EO-Atlas}},
publisher = {SpectraWorks B.V.},
year = {2026},
note = {Last reviewed 2026-05-27. CC BY 4.0},
url = {https://eo-atlas.org/topics/biodiversity}
}