Mapping Threatened Dry Deciduous Dipterocarp Forest in South-East Asia for Conservation Management

摘要: Habitat loss is the primary reason for species extinction, making habitat conservation a critical strategy maintaining global biodiversity. Major types, such as lowland tropical evergreen forests or mangrove forests, are already well represented in many priorities, while others underrepresented. This particularly true dry deciduous dipterocarp (DDF), key forest type Asia that extends from to subtropical regions South-east (SE Asia), where high temperatures and pronounced seasonal precipitation patterns predominant. DDF unique ecosystem harboring wide range of important endemic need be adequately biodiversity strategies. One greatest challenges lack detailed accurate maps their distribution due inaccurate open-canopy mapping methods. Conventional land cover therefore tend perform inadequately with DDF. Our study accurately delineates on continental scale based remote sensing approaches by integrating strong, characteristic seasonality We also determine current status throughout SE Asia. chose our research because its remaining extensive some areas but currently degrading under increasing pressure significant socio-economic changes region. Phenological indices, derived MODIS vegetation index time series, served input variables Random Forest classifier were used predict spatial The resulting continuous fields had accuracies ranging R² = 0.56 0.78. identified three hotspots total area 156,000 km2, found Myanmar have more than countries approach proved reliable method other seasonally influenced ecosystems regional scales, very valuable management this