Radar sensors are not selected because their applications mostly concentrate on geology, ice and snow, marine surveillance, and agriculture. In addition, some uncertainties in radar remote sensing, such selleck bio as the saturation issue under high vegetation biomass, hamper its applications on EBC.2.1. High Spatial ResolutionGenerally speaking, high spatial resolution, also called fine spatial resolution, is less than 10 m, and ranges from 0.5�C10 m in the commercial domain for environmental research. IKONOS, QuickBird, OrbView-3 and SPOT-5 (Satellite Pour l��Observation de la Terre-5) are the commonly used systems (see [15] for the high-spatial resolution optical sensors). The benefit of high spatial resolution imagery is that it greatly increases the accuracy of identification and characterization of small objects at spatial scales which were previously only available from airborne platforms [3,14].

For example, Gillespie et al. provided several examples of accurately identifying plant Inhibitors,Modulators,Libraries species based on the high spatial resolution imagery [14]. Turner et al. have pointed out it is applicable and feasible to directly identify certain species and species assemblages at the scale of high spatial resolution [3]. In addition, high spatial resolution imagery can be employed to assess the accuracy of remote sensing precuts derived from moderate or coarse spatial resolution imagery. For instance, Wabnitz et al. assessed the accuracy of Landsat-based large-scale seagrass mapping against patterns detectable with very high-resolution IKONOS images [16].

However, the high spatial Inhibitors,Modulators,Libraries Inhibitors,Modulators,Libraries resolution imagery is still expensive to acquire from commercial satellites, at the price of approximately 3,000�C5,000 US$ for 10 km2 [14], although it has tended to decrease with the emergence of more sensors and the upcoming competition. Inhibitors,Modulators,Libraries Moreover, data coverage and security restrictions Anacetrapib are still a significant hurdle before easily accessing high spatial resolution satellite data [17].Due to the large amount of high spatial selleckchem Gefitinib resolution sensors, the commonly-used IKONOS imagery was selected to display their typical applications in 2008 and 2009. First of all land cover, as the representative of basic landscape information, can be extracted quickly and reliably based on the high spatial resolution data. For example, the object-oriented classification of IKONOS-2 satellite images was utilized to explicitly recognize the transitional areas between tree crowns and tree shades (tree shadows), and then for the quantification of canopy cover [18]. Further, IKONOS imagery can be used to quantify and evaluate the spatial structure of critical habitats and how it affects endemic species, which is essential baseline information for biodiversity monitoring and management (e.g., [19]).