Biodiversity enables ecosystems to thrive through the synergy of functional differences among organisms. While human well-being strongly depends on biodiversity-driven ecosystem services, human... Show moreBiodiversity enables ecosystems to thrive through the synergy of functional differences among organisms. While human well-being strongly depends on biodiversity-driven ecosystem services, human actions are also at the root of current unprecedented biodiversity declines. Comprehensive methods to assess the dynamics and state of biodiversity are therefore increasingly urgent. This thesis studies the overlooked capabilities of current satellite observations to conduct large-scale monitoring of plant functional diversity, with a focus on the European Space Agency’s flagship Sentinel-2 satellite. Specifically, it addresses the use of spectral diversity metrics, radiative transfer model inversion, the need for adequate in-situ validation, and the role of spatial scale in our perception and estimation of satellite-derived plant functional diversity patterns. Show less
Economic valuation of ecosystem services is a popular yet troubled approach in modern nature conservation. It's effectiveness remains unknown while a lot of criticism is noted in the... Show more Economic valuation of ecosystem services is a popular yet troubled approach in modern nature conservation. It's effectiveness remains unknown while a lot of criticism is noted in the literature about potential consequences of this approach. This thesis first clarifies the various discourses extant about the topic. Then, it shows how the topic of ecosystem services is replacing calls for nature conservation in policy documents. It investigates two different ways to give ecological knowledge a strong influence in market-based approaches. The first way being the use of portfolio theory and the second way being the use of indicators for conservation success based on ecological science. The thesis finally turns towards the greater challenge of motivating people to protect nature, and argues that economic valuation has only a limited role to play in this endeavor. Show less
Land use change results from the interaction between the human and the natural system and therefore various scientific disciplines have developed paradigms and methods to study land use change.... Show moreLand use change results from the interaction between the human and the natural system and therefore various scientific disciplines have developed paradigms and methods to study land use change. However, these disciplinary approaches can only cover part of the complex system of land use change. The objective of this dissertation is to develop interdisciplinary methodologies to identify and integrate factors that are important in the land use system to describe and model the land use system in a comprehensive manner. The methodological challenges that are addressed in this study include bridging differences in spatial and temporal scales and organisational levels, identification of appropriate units of analysis, combining different disciplinary paradigms and developing new paradigms that unify the disciplines in one concept. The development of these methods is illustrated with a case study in a municipality in the Philippines, where in the past century large land use changes have taken place through commercial logging and expansion of agriculture. To make projections of future land use in the area models were constructed for the case study. In this dissertation it is the combination of approaches that have led to a greater understanding of the land use in the study area. Especially moving between empirical, inductive methods and theoretical, deductive methods has proven to be a useful approach to stimulate theory building. Show less
