Forest ecosystem services mapping, Republic Karelia, Russia

Keywords: Forest ecosystems, ecosystem services, remote sensing, carbon stocks, mineral horizons of soils, international program ICP- Forests.
Session Type: Virtual Poster Abstract
Day: Sunday
Session Start / End Time: 2/27/2022 03:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/27/2022 05:00 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 27

Abstract

Ecosystem services are the aggregate of benefits that people obtain from ecosystems: provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting services (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005). The present study aimed to explore in details the accumulation of carbon in mineral horizons of soils in forests. This parameter is broadly used in the regulation ecosystem services of forests. The study area is located in the Republic of Karelia and the Karelian Isthmus, north-west of Russia, taiga zone.
Modern GIS meso-scale models that use regular field data shows its reliability and high accuracy. We created models of carbon stocks in mineral horizons of soils using a machine learning algorithm - Random Forest. The fieldwork data collection from the international program ICP Forest (International Joint Program for the Assessment and Monitoring of the Impact of Air Pollution on Forests) in 2008 (Bakhmet, Fedorets, 2011) is used as a model input for the regression analysis. The remote sensing part bases on Landsat multispectral satellite images from 2006-2010. Additionally, we calculated vegetation indices, such as SWVI (Short Wave Vegetation Index) to characterize moisture content of biomass. The technical part of the research is performed on the cloud platform Google Earth Engine.
This research results in series of thematic maps based on data produced by carbon stocks models for the Republic of Karelia and the Karelian Isthmus.