Using information layers for mapping grassland habitat distribution at local to regional scales

The Natura 2000 network of protected sites is one of the means to enable biodiversity conservation in Europe. EU member states have to undertake surveillance of habitats and species of community interest protected under the Habitat Directive. Remote sensing techniques have been applied successfully to monitor biodiversity aspects according to Natura 2000, but many challenges remain in assessing dynamics and habitat changes outside protected sites. Grasslands are among the most threatened habitats in Europe. In this paper we tested the integration of expert knowledge into different standard classification approaches to map grassland habitats in Schleswig Holstein, Germany. Knowledge about habitat features is represented as raster information layers, and used in subsequent grassland classifications. Overall classification accuracies were highest for the maximum likelihood and support vector machine approaches using RapidEye time series, but results improved for specific grassland classes when information layers were included in the classification process.