Rubrika: News

Author: Vítězslav Moudrý Understanding the three-dimensional structure of vegetation and terrain is fundamental for explaining how terrestrial ecosystems function, for assessing biodiversity, and for designing effective environmental policies. One of the most powerful remote sensing technologies for capturing this structure is airborne laser scanning (lidar). At the same time, lidar is a relatively expensive technology,…

Author: Petr Bašta Digital elevation models (DEMs) constitute fundamental data for various governmental, scientific, and commercial activities, serving a wide range of purposes in environmental sciences. The availability of global DEMs (GDEMs) has been improved considerably, especially in the past few years, which have been prolific in terms of the number of newly available bare-earth…

Author: Vítězslav Moudrý Mapping the three-dimensional structure of vegetation (and terrain) is essential for understanding how terrestrial ecosystems function and for designing effective environmental policies. One of the most suitable remote sensing technologies for this purpose is airborne laser scanning (LiDAR). However, LiDAR is a relatively costly technology, and in Europe its acquisition is not…

Author: Vojtěch Barták Canopy height is one of the most important characteristics of forest structure. It is closely linked to stored biomass, forest productivity, and biodiversity. As we face increasing pressure from climate change and environmental degradation, consistent global monitoring of forest canopy height is crucial for understanding the state of our ecosystems and making…

Author: David Moravec Cities are getting hotter. As concrete, asphalt, and dense apartment blocks increasingly replace natural areas, urban areas often heat up significantly more than surrounding rural zones in hot weather. This phenomenon — known as the “urban heat island” — isn’t just about discomfort: it can affect public health, energy demand, and overall…

Author: Jan Komárek As part of the ongoing seminar series on environmental monitoring and geospatial technologies, we had the pleasure of hosting Research Professor Eija Honkavaara from the Department of Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry at the National Land Survey of Finland. Her invited lecture, entitled “Towards Autonomous Use of Drone Technology for Forestry Applications”, offered…

Author: Petr Balej The prediction accuracy of Species Distribution Models (SDMs) is often compromised by sampling bias in species occurrence records. This issue is widespread in collaborative databases like the worldwide GBIF, iNaturalist, and the local Czech Species Occurrence Database. These platforms are filled with opportunistic species records of various quality collected by both expert…

A new article published in Trends in Ecology & Evolution draws attention to a surprising blind spot in global biodiversity research — cultivated lands. Although farmland covers almost half of the world’s habitable land, it remains underrepresented in open biodiversity data. The study, titled “Cultivated lands: blind spots in global biodiversity data,” was co-authored by…

Author: Jan Komárek During the final EarthBridge project meeting, Stephanie Roilo from the University of Bonn, Agro-ecological Modeling Group under the leadership of Prof. Anna Cord, joined the event and stayed for several days on a scientific visit. During her stay, she delivered two engaging research lectures that combined scientific rigour with a touch of…