Monitoring global biodiversity from space through remotely sensing geospatial patterns has high potential to add to our knowledge acquired by field observation. Although a framework of essential biodiversity variables (EBVs) is emerging for monitoring biodiversity, its poor alignment with remote sensing products hinders interpolation between field observations. This study compiles a comprehensive, prioritized list of remote sensing biodiversity products that can further improve the monitoring of geospatial biodiversity patterns, enhancing the EBV framework and its applicability. The ecosystem structure and ecosystem function EBV classes, which capture the biological effects of disturbance as well as habitat structure, are shown by an expert review process to be the most relevant, feasible, accurate and mature for direct monitoring of biodiversity from satellites. Biodiversity products that require satellite remote sensing of a finer resolution that is still under development are given lower priority (for example, for the EBV class species traits). Some EBVs are not directly measurable by remote sensing from space, specifically the EBV class genetic composition. Linking remote sensing products to EBVs will accelerate product generation, improving reporting on the state of biodiversity from local to global scales.

Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg Freiburg Germany

Biodiversity Centre Finnish Environment Institute Helsinki Finland

College of Marine Science University of South Florida St Petersburg FL USA

Computational Landscape Ecology Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research Leipzig Germany

Department of Applied Geoinformatics and Spatial Planning Faculty of Environmental Sciences Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Czech Republic

Department of Biological Geological and Environmental Sciences University of Bologna Bologna Italy

Department of Earth and Environmental Science Macquarie University Sydney New South Wales Australia

Department of Forest Resources Management University of British Columbia Vancouver British Columbia Canada

Department of Geography and Environmental Studies Wollo University Dessie Ethiopia

Department of Visitor Management and National Park Monitoring Bavarian Forest National Park Administration Grafenau Germany

Earth Observation Center Oberpfaffenhofen Germany

Earth Science Division NASA Washington DC USA

European Space Research Institute European Space Agency Frascati Italy

Faculty of Geo Information Science and Earth Observation University of Twente Enschede the Netherlands

Flemish Institute for Technological Research Mol Belgium

GBIF Secretariat Copenhagen Denmark

Geography Department Humboldt University of Berlin Berlin Germany

George Mason University Fairfax VA USA

German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research Leipzig Germany

Google Zurich Switzerland

Humboldt Universität zu Berlin Berlin Germany

Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics University of Amsterdam Amsterdam the Netherlands

Institute of Biology Martin Luther University Halle Wittenberg Halle Germany

Institute of Geographical Sciences Freie Universität Berlin Berlin Germany

Institute of Geography and Geology University of Wuerzburg Würzburg Germany

Land Systems and Sustainable Land Management Geographisches Institut Universität Bern Bern Switzerland

NatureServe Arlington VA USA

Remote Sensing Center for Earth System Research University of Leipzig Leipzig Germany

Remote Sensing Laboratories Department of Geography University of Zurich Zurich Switzerland

Technische Universität Braunschweig Braunschweig Germany

Tour du Valat Arles France

UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre Cambridge UK

Unilever Europe B 5 Rotterdam the Netherlands

Wageningen Environmental Research Wageningen University and Research Wageningen the Netherlands

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The Spectral Species Concept in Living Color