Application of remote sensing to parks and protected area monitoring: Introduction to the special issue

This special issue is the result of sustained and highly collaborative efforts to improve the use of remotely sensed data to inform management of protected areas. The 15 papers in the issue address a diverse range of topics. These papers provide a conceptual basis and a framework for establishing monitoring programs, techniques and methods to make operational the use of remotely sensed data, case studies, and synthesis papers liking remotely sensed data to models used to inform ecological assessments. Studies in this issue necessarily confront the universal challenges of scale, both spatial and temporal, and the sometimes tenuous link between observed patterns and significant ecological process. A clear message is that the information needs of resource managers require information across scales, and these information demands will continue to motivate advances in the collection and analysis of remotely sensed data. This compilation of papers is unusual in (1) articulating a basic, if somewhat technical, foundation of remote sensing that is required for resource managers to effectively collaborate with remote sensing specialists, and (2) providing a framework for addressing monitoring resource issues that is likely to be of interest to many remote sensing specialists. We hope these papers inspire broader use of remotely sensed data to manage the increasingly rare and valuable resources in protected areas around the world.