EESS talk on "From smartphones, drones and satellites: Revealing the diversity and resilience of ecosystems at global scales."
Event details
| Date | 08.04.2025 |
| Hour | 12:15 › 13:15 |
| Speaker | Dr. Teja Kattenborn, University of Freiburg |
| Location | Online |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
| Event Language | English |
Abstract:
Ecosystems worldwide are under increasing pressure from climate change, land-use shifts, and disturbances such as drought and pest outbreaks. To understand and monitor these dynamics, large-scale, high-resolution remote sensing is crucial. In this talk, I will introduce two complementary initiatives, deadtrees.earth and PANOPS, that leverage cutting-edge geospatial technologies to track ecosystem change. The PANOPS project aims to uncover functional trait and biodiversity patterns at global scales. Using a fusion of data from satellites, and crowd-sourced ground-based observations, such as globally curated vegetation survey data or plant photographs from citizen science projects, PANOPS leverages machine learning and geospatial analytics to reveal biochemical plant traits and their diversity. Ultimately, PANOPS will provide trait and diversity products at unprecedendeed coverage and spatial resolution to advance our understanding of ecosystem resilience and resistance. The deadtrees.earth begins where the resistance of ecosystems ends. deadtrees.earth integrates multi-source remote sensing—from crowd-sourced drone imagery to satellite observations—to map and analyze tree mortality patterns globally. The initiative aims to improve our understanding of forest resilience and resistance, dieback drivers and spatial-temporal tree mortality trends.
Biography:
Since 2023, Teja Kattenborn has been a Full Professor (W3) for Sensor-based Geoinformatics at the University of Freiburg. His research focuses on remote sensing, geoinformatics, geospatial data science, and machine learning, with applications in environmental monitoring and biodiversity research. From 2019 to 2023, he was a researcher at the Remote Sensing Centre for Earth System Research (RSC4Earth) at Leipzig University. His academic journey includes research visits to leading institutions such as the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission in Ispra and the University of Minnesota. He earned his PhD in Remote Sensing from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in 2018 and completed his studies in Environmental Sciences, GIS, and Environmental Modelling at the University of Freiburg and Stellenbosch University in 2015.
Ecosystems worldwide are under increasing pressure from climate change, land-use shifts, and disturbances such as drought and pest outbreaks. To understand and monitor these dynamics, large-scale, high-resolution remote sensing is crucial. In this talk, I will introduce two complementary initiatives, deadtrees.earth and PANOPS, that leverage cutting-edge geospatial technologies to track ecosystem change. The PANOPS project aims to uncover functional trait and biodiversity patterns at global scales. Using a fusion of data from satellites, and crowd-sourced ground-based observations, such as globally curated vegetation survey data or plant photographs from citizen science projects, PANOPS leverages machine learning and geospatial analytics to reveal biochemical plant traits and their diversity. Ultimately, PANOPS will provide trait and diversity products at unprecedendeed coverage and spatial resolution to advance our understanding of ecosystem resilience and resistance. The deadtrees.earth begins where the resistance of ecosystems ends. deadtrees.earth integrates multi-source remote sensing—from crowd-sourced drone imagery to satellite observations—to map and analyze tree mortality patterns globally. The initiative aims to improve our understanding of forest resilience and resistance, dieback drivers and spatial-temporal tree mortality trends.
Biography:
Since 2023, Teja Kattenborn has been a Full Professor (W3) for Sensor-based Geoinformatics at the University of Freiburg. His research focuses on remote sensing, geoinformatics, geospatial data science, and machine learning, with applications in environmental monitoring and biodiversity research. From 2019 to 2023, he was a researcher at the Remote Sensing Centre for Earth System Research (RSC4Earth) at Leipzig University. His academic journey includes research visits to leading institutions such as the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission in Ispra and the University of Minnesota. He earned his PhD in Remote Sensing from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in 2018 and completed his studies in Environmental Sciences, GIS, and Environmental Modelling at the University of Freiburg and Stellenbosch University in 2015.
Practical information
- General public
- Free
- This event is internal
Organizer
- EESS - IIE
Contact
- Prof. Devis Tuia, ECEO