THE USE OF SATELLITE IMAGERY FOR THE IDENTIFICATION AND PROTECTION OF 'IMPORTANT OAK AREAS'

摘要

The successful implementation of habitat protection requires ecological and spatial monitoring of system dynamics. Data collection and mapping of habitats has been boosted by the rapid growth of remote sensing. An island-wide combined survey, focused on Aleppo oak (Q.infectoria) habitats, was undertaken using freely available on-line satellite imagery (Google Earth) and field inspection. The results of the survey, in combination with a weighting methodology, identified areas with high conservation value-Important Oak Areas (IOAs), for potential habitat protection. It is suggested that World Wide Web- based methodologies of habitat identification could be a complementary ecological and conservation tool for remote mapping and assessment of habitats over a broad spatial scale.