Earth observation for the improved management of tree health in urban and peri-urban settings

树木和森林是英国多种生态系统服务的主要提供者，也具有商业和文化价值。然而，英国的树木和森林健康受到气候变化和引进的病虫害的压力。虽然商业性林业活动的地图绘制得相当好，但农业、私人、城市和城郊环境中较小的林地区块和个别树木的记录却不那么好。为了了解这些树木和林地对树木健康潜在压力的敏感性和恢复力，了解它们的位置和组成是很重要的。树理事会最近的一份报告到国家应对灰顶枯突出了没有一个国家的树木库存的问题，与英国非林地灰树人口的估计范围之间27和60万trees.The总体目标，这个项目是开发一个可扩展的树种分布图，城市和城市周边环境，以支持有关管理树木健康的政策决策。这种树形图将对受益于所产生的生态系统服务的多个利益攸关方有用。这些范围从国家和地方政府，到保护慈善机构和学术界，再到其他遗产管理者（最广泛的意义上包括商业中心、教育设施、NHS等）以及管理树木的公用事业。该项目的目的是通过分析哥白尼方案哨兵卫星的高分辨率卫星图像来制作这些地图，这些卫星经过无人驾驶航空器和地面调查的甚高分辨率图像训练。该项目的后半部分将侧重于利用网络技术提供这些地图，其中将包括生态系统服务提供情况、文化价值以及对病虫害和气候压力的敏感性的关联地图，该项目将开发的商业产品是一种地图服务。最终，我们将看到这一发展成为一个国家林地地图。然而，本项目的产出将是一个单一理事会区域的概念图证明。这将作为一个有许可证的网络地图服务提供，可由定制的应用程序或现成的地理信息系统软件使用。最重要的是，我们将建立网络和本地操作系统应用程序，不仅显示树种分布图，而且还允许美化林地的社会经济价值可视化，并与林地映射dataset.The树木分布映射服务的主要利益相关者是Defra，动植物卫生署，当地政府机构，慈善机构和社区团体关心的树木和树木健康。如果未来对入侵性病虫害的反应遵循与对灰枯的反应相同的模式，那么受感染/受感染树木的管理将是地方当局和行动小组的责任。根据本项目提供的方法和技术绘制的树木分布图将提供当地不同树种的数量和位置估计数，从而可以更有效地进行短期和长期规划，以保持树木健康，减少调查成本，并缩短针对病虫害爆发采取管理行动的时间。

Trees and forests are a key provider of multiple ecosystem services to the UK, as well as having commercial and cultural value. However, UK tree and forest health is under pressure both from climate change and from introduced pests and diseases. While commercial forestry operations are fairly well mapped, smaller woodland blocks and individual trees in agricultural, private, urban and peri-urban settings are less well recorded. In order to understand the sensitivity and resilience of such trees and woodlands to potential pressures on tree health it is important to understand their location and composition. A recent report by the Tree Council into the national response to ash dieback highlighted the problem of not having a national tree inventory, with estimates of the UK non-woodland ash tree population ranging between 27 and 60 million trees.The overall objective of this project is to develop a scalable tree species distribution map for urban and peri-urban environments to support policy decisions related to managing tree health. Such a tree map would be of use to multiple stakeholders who benefit from ecosystem services derived. These range from national and local government, to conservation charities and academia, to other managers of estates (in the broadest sense which includes business centres, education facilities, NHS etc.) and utilities that have to manage the tree stock. This project aims to produce these maps by analysis of high resolution satellite imagery from the Copernicus Programme Sentinel satellites trained on very high resolution imagery from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and ground based surveys. The second half of the project will focus on the delivery of these maps using web technologies, which would include contextual mapping of ecosystem service provision, cultural value and sensitivity to pest, disease and climate pressures.The commercial product that will be developed by this project is a mapping service. Ultimately we would see this developing into a national woodland map. However, the output for this project will be a proof of concept map for a single council area. This will be delivered as a licenced web mapping service which can be consumed by bespoke applications or off-the-shelf GIS software. On top of this we will build web and native OS applications that display not only the tree species distribution maps, but also allow visualisation of socio-economic values for amenity woodland and interaction with the woodland mapping dataset.The key stakeholders for tree distribution mapping service are Defra, the Animal and Plant Health Agency, local government agencies, charities and community groups concerned with trees and tree health. If future responses to invasive pests and diseases follow the same model as the response to ash die back, then the management of infected/infested trees will be the responsibility of local authorities and action groups. Tree distribution maps based on the methods and technologies delivered by this project would provide local estimates of numbers and locations of different tree species, allowing for more effective short and long term planning to maintain tree health, a reduction in survey costs and a reduction in the time to implement management actions in response to pest or disease outbreaks.