Using satellite remote sensing to assess and monitor ecosystem integrity and climate change in Canada's National Parks

Natural Resources Canada, Parks Canada Agency and the University of Ottawa are developing standardized approaches for monitoring landscape change within and surrounding Canada's National Parks using Earth observation. This paper focuses on remote sensing methodologies developed at the CCRS for three types of ecological indicators: Landscape Pattern, Succession & Retrogression, and Net Primary Productivity (NPP), using La Mauricie National Park to demonstrate the methods and results. Landscape pattern analyses are discussed in relation to landscape metric stability, scaling, and selection. Major vegetation disturbances through time were examined using a hybrid change detection technique combining vegetation index differencing and constrained signature extension. Ecosystem productivity measures were developed using a remote sensing-based modeling approach known as EALCO (Ecological Assimilation of Land and Climate Observations). It is anticipated that this pilot study will produce new automated EO processing methods that culminate in an operational remote sensing-based system for monitoring the ecological integrity of Canada's National Parks and their greater ecosystems.