A composite indicator for assessing habitat quality of riparian forests derived from Earth observation data

Riparian forests are precious, complex habitats fostering high biodiversity where effective monitoring of habitat quality is particularly important. We present a composite indicator, referred to as Riparian Forest composite Indicator: focus on Structure (RFI_S), for the assessment of habitat quality and identification of 'hot-spot' areas where conservation actions need to be taken. The RFI_S is composed of seven indicators derived from very high resolution (VHR) satellite imagery and LiDAR data, calculated on patch level. These indicators assess four important attributes of riparian forest quality: (1) tree species composition, (2) vertical forest structure, (3) horizontal forest structure and (4) water regime. For the aggregation of the RFI_S, two different weighting schemes, expert-based and statistical weighting, are applied. Forest patches with high cumulative RFI_S values represent patches of good habitat quality. These patches are primarily found along water bodies, reflecting the importance of water bodies for the structural complexity, an optimum water regime and tree species composition. For forest patches of low habitat quality the RFI_S helps to design suitable measures to improve habitat quality status through its decomposability into the underlying indicators. A sensitivity analysis to test the robustness of the RFI_S shows that the indicator variance in terrain roughness has the strongest influence on the composite indicator. Finally, a comparison with an existing expert-based map on conservation status reveals the potential of a complementary quantitative assessment of habitat quality in the study site. We hence conclude that the RFI_S has a high capability to support sustainable forest management complementing regularly gathered in situ data.