Forested Wetland Session

Written by Claudio Muñoz on

August 04, 2016

Forested Wetland Monitoring, Assessment and Conservation Session

Forested wetlands are some of the most important and valuable ecosystems and on the planet but their rapid and continued destruction threatens the provision of their essential ecosystem services. Mangrove forests, for example, help mitigate climate change impacts by lessening increased occurrences of floods and catastrophic hurricanes. However, coastal areas are among the most threatened and degraded ecosystems on earth. In addition to being home to numerous endangered species such as the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae), forested peatlands play a critical role in climate change dynamics through significant carbon sequestration. Yet, some estimates attribute as much as 3 percent of the total global emission of carbon dioxide by human activity to the draining and burning of peat swamp forests. By assessing landscape and ecosystem dynamics across varying scales, remote sensing provides a beneficial and relevant tool in guiding researchers and managers in current and future efforts in management and conservation of forested wetland resources.

This session will focus on remote sensing of forested wetlands across the globe. Forested wetlands include intertidal forest wetlands such as mangrove swamps and tidal-freshwater swamp forests; freshwater, tree-dominated wetlands such as freshwater swamp forests, seasonally flooded forests, or wooded swamps on inorganic soils; and forested peatlands such as peatswamp forests. Presenters will address topics related to remote sensing of spatial, ecological, and temporal conditions of forested wetlands, classification of forested wetlands, forested wetland carbon dynamics, restoration, mitigation and conservation efforts of forest wetlands, and development of tools, techniques, and methodologies related to remote sensing of forested wetlands.

Session Organizer

Kate C. Fickas

Oregon State University Department of Forest Ecosystems & Society

321 Richardson Hall

Corvallis, Or 97331

kate.fickas@oregonstate.edu