¶ Forest health monitoring
| Company | Skylab |
| Website | https://skylabglobal.com/ |
| Category | Planning & Inventory › Remote sensing & mapping |
¶ Overview
Forest health monitoring is the systematic observation, measurement, and assessment of forest ecosystems to detect changes in condition, identify threats, and inform management responses over time. It encompasses a broad suite of indicators including tree mortality rates, canopy cover and density, understorey vegetation composition, pest and disease incidence, soil condition, and hydrological function. Monitoring programmes can operate at multiple scales — from individual plot measurements to landscape-level remote sensing assessments — and typically integrate field-collected data with satellite, aerial, and drone imagery to provide spatially comprehensive and temporally consistent records. Key threats driving monitoring efforts include bark beetle outbreaks, fungal pathogens such as Phytophthora cinnamomi (which causes dieback in Australian native forests and plantations), fire-induced mortality, drought stress, and the cumulative effects of climate change. In Australia, forest health monitoring is conducted by state forestry agencies, the Australian Forestry Standard body, CSIRO, and universities, often using permanent plot networks supplemented by airborne LiDAR and multispectral satellite imagery from platforms such as Landsat, Sentinel-2, and MODIS. Indices such as the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), and Leaf Area Index (LAI) are derived from satellite data to track canopy vigour at regional scales, while thermal imagery is increasingly used to detect drought stress and pest activity. Monitoring data feeds into national reporting frameworks including Australia's State of the Forests Report and international obligations under the Montreal Process criteria and indicators. Early detection of health decline enables timely management interventions — such as targeted pesticide application, water management, or salvage harvesting — that can significantly reduce economic and ecological losses.
¶ Assessment
A valuable system for supporting better forest management and preventing large-scale decline, though its productivity benefits remain indirect.
¶ Details
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Company | Skylab |
| Type | Company |
| FWPA RD&E | 7.4 |