Measuring diversity from space: a global view of the free and open source rasterdiv R package under a coding perspective

Thouverai, Elisa and Marcantonio, Matteo and Bacaro, Giovanni and Re, Daniele Da and Iannacito, Martina and Marchetto, Elisa and Ricotta, Carlo and Tattoni, Clara and Vicario, Saverio and Rocchini, Duccio (2021) Measuring diversity from space: a global view of the free and open source rasterdiv R package under a coding perspective. Community Ecology, 22 (1). pp. 1-11. ISSN 1585-8553

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Abstract

The variation of species diversity over space and time has been widely recognised as a key challenge in ecology. However, measur- ing species diversity over large areas might be difficult for logistic reasons related to both time and cost savings for sampling, as well as accessibility of remote ecosystems. In this paper, we present a new R package - rasterdiv - to calculate diversity indices based on remotely sensed data, by discussing the theory behind the developed algorithms. Obviously, measures of diversity from space should not be viewed as a replacement of in situ data on biological diversity, but they are rather complementary to existing data and approaches. In practice, they integrate available information of Earth surface properties, including aspects of functional (structural, biophysical and biochemical), taxonomic, phylogenetic and genetic diversity. Making use of the rasterdiv package can result useful in making multiple calculations based on reproducible open source algorithms, robustly rooted in Information Theory.

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