Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 1697 |
| Journal | Remote sensing |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue number | 14 |
| Publication status | Published - 17 Jul 2019 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Abstract
Natural rivers in urban areas bear significant potential to provide ecosystem services for the surrounding inhabitants. However, surface sealing by houses and street networks, urban drainage, disposal of waste and wastewater resulting from advancing urbanization usually lead to the deterioration of urban rivers and their riparian areas. This ultimately damages their ability to provide ecosystem services. This paper presents an innovative methodology for a rapid and low-cost assessment of the ecological status of urban rivers and riparian areas in developing countries under data scarce conditions. The methodology uses a combination of field data and freely available high-resolution satellite images to assess three ecological status categories: river hydromorphology, water quality, and riparian land cover. The focus here is on the assessment of proxies for biophysical structures and processes representing ecological functioning that enable urban rivers and riparian areas to provide ecosystem services. These proxies represent a combination of remote sensing land cover- and field-based indicators. Finally, the three ecological status categories are combined to quantify the potential of different river sections to provide regulating ecosystem services. The development and application of the methodology is demonstrated and visualized for each 100 m section of the Pochote River in the City of León, Nicaragua. This spatially distributed information of the ecosystem service potential of individual sections of the urban river and riparian areas can serve as important information for decision making regarding the protection, future use, and city development of these areas, as well as the targeted and tailor-made development of nature-based solutions such as green infrastructure.
Keywords
- urban rivers; ecological status; ecosystem services; developing countries; Nicaragua; nature-based solutions; green infrastructure, Nicaragua, Green infrastructure, Nature-based solutions, Matrix approach, Developing countries, Ecosystem services, Urban rivers, MAPURES, Ecological status
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Sustainable Development Goals
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In: Remote sensing, Vol. 11, No. 14, 1697, 17.07.2019.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - A Combined Field and Remote-Sensing Based Methodology to Assess the Ecosystem Service Potential of Urban Rivers in Developing Countries
AU - Beißler, M.R.
AU - Hack, J.
N1 - Funding Information: We acknowledge support from the German Research Foundation and the Open Access Publishing Fund of Technische Universit?t Darmstadt. Further we want to express our gratitude to the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on the manuscript. This research was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and research (BMBF), grant number 01UU1704.
PY - 2019/7/17
Y1 - 2019/7/17
N2 - Natural rivers in urban areas bear significant potential to provide ecosystem services for the surrounding inhabitants. However, surface sealing by houses and street networks, urban drainage, disposal of waste and wastewater resulting from advancing urbanization usually lead to the deterioration of urban rivers and their riparian areas. This ultimately damages their ability to provide ecosystem services. This paper presents an innovative methodology for a rapid and low-cost assessment of the ecological status of urban rivers and riparian areas in developing countries under data scarce conditions. The methodology uses a combination of field data and freely available high-resolution satellite images to assess three ecological status categories: river hydromorphology, water quality, and riparian land cover. The focus here is on the assessment of proxies for biophysical structures and processes representing ecological functioning that enable urban rivers and riparian areas to provide ecosystem services. These proxies represent a combination of remote sensing land cover- and field-based indicators. Finally, the three ecological status categories are combined to quantify the potential of different river sections to provide regulating ecosystem services. The development and application of the methodology is demonstrated and visualized for each 100 m section of the Pochote River in the City of León, Nicaragua. This spatially distributed information of the ecosystem service potential of individual sections of the urban river and riparian areas can serve as important information for decision making regarding the protection, future use, and city development of these areas, as well as the targeted and tailor-made development of nature-based solutions such as green infrastructure.
AB - Natural rivers in urban areas bear significant potential to provide ecosystem services for the surrounding inhabitants. However, surface sealing by houses and street networks, urban drainage, disposal of waste and wastewater resulting from advancing urbanization usually lead to the deterioration of urban rivers and their riparian areas. This ultimately damages their ability to provide ecosystem services. This paper presents an innovative methodology for a rapid and low-cost assessment of the ecological status of urban rivers and riparian areas in developing countries under data scarce conditions. The methodology uses a combination of field data and freely available high-resolution satellite images to assess three ecological status categories: river hydromorphology, water quality, and riparian land cover. The focus here is on the assessment of proxies for biophysical structures and processes representing ecological functioning that enable urban rivers and riparian areas to provide ecosystem services. These proxies represent a combination of remote sensing land cover- and field-based indicators. Finally, the three ecological status categories are combined to quantify the potential of different river sections to provide regulating ecosystem services. The development and application of the methodology is demonstrated and visualized for each 100 m section of the Pochote River in the City of León, Nicaragua. This spatially distributed information of the ecosystem service potential of individual sections of the urban river and riparian areas can serve as important information for decision making regarding the protection, future use, and city development of these areas, as well as the targeted and tailor-made development of nature-based solutions such as green infrastructure.
KW - urban rivers; ecological status; ecosystem services; developing countries; Nicaragua; nature-based solutions; green infrastructure
KW - Nicaragua
KW - Green infrastructure
KW - Nature-based solutions
KW - Matrix approach
KW - Developing countries
KW - Ecosystem services
KW - Urban rivers
KW - MAPURES
KW - Ecological status
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85071539919&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.20944/preprints201905.0233.v1
DO - 10.20944/preprints201905.0233.v1
M3 - Article
VL - 11
JO - Remote sensing
JF - Remote sensing
SN - 2072-4292
IS - 14
M1 - 1697
ER -