{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,28]],"date-time":"2025-10-28T05:29:14Z","timestamp":1761629354591,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":116,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2016,9,21]],"date-time":"2016-09-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1474416000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Protected areas (PAs) need to be assessed systematically according to biodiversity values and threats in order to support decision-making processes. For this, PAs can be characterized according to their species, ecosystems and threats, but such information is often difficult to access and usually not comparable across regions. There are currently over 200,000 PAs in the world, and assessing these systematically according to their ecological values remains a huge challenge. However, linking remote sensing with ecological modelling can help to overcome some limitations of conservation studies, such as the sampling bias of biodiversity inventories. The aim of this paper is to introduce eHabitat+, a habitat modelling service supporting the European Commission\u2019s Digital Observatory for Protected Areas, and specifically to discuss a component that systematically stratifies PAs into different habitat functional types based on remote sensing data. eHabitat+ uses an optimized procedure of automatic image segmentation based on several environmental variables to identify the main biophysical gradients in each PA. This allows a systematic production of key indicators on PAs that can be compared globally. Results from a few case studies are illustrated to show the benefits and limitations of this open-source tool.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs8090780","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2016,9,21]],"date-time":"2016-09-21T10:11:26Z","timestamp":1474452686000},"page":"780","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["Biophysical Characterization of Protected Areas Globally through Optimized Image Segmentation and Classification"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"8","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0825-7252","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Javier","family":"Mart\u00ednez-L\u00f3pez","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"European Commission\u2014Joint Research Centre, Directorate for Sustainable Resources, Via Fermi 2749, 21027 Ispra, VA, Italy"},{"name":"BC3\u2014Basque Centre for Climate Change, Sede Building 1, 1st floor, Scientific Campus of the University of the Basque Country, 48940 Leioa, Spain"}]},{"given":"Bastian","family":"Bertzky","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"European Commission\u2014Joint Research Centre, Directorate for Sustainable Resources, Via Fermi 2749, 21027 Ispra, VA, Italy"}]},{"given":"Francisco","family":"Bonet-Garc\u00eda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Andalusian Institute for Earth System Research, University of Granada, E-18010 Granada, Spain"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1321-0800","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lucy","family":"Bastin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"European Commission\u2014Joint Research Centre, Directorate for Sustainable Resources, Via Fermi 2749, 21027 Ispra, VA, Italy"},{"name":"School of Engineering and Applied Science, Aston University, B4 7ET Birmingham, UK"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0515-7168","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gr\u00e9goire","family":"Dubois","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"European Commission\u2014Joint Research Centre, Directorate for Sustainable Resources, Via Fermi 2749, 21027 Ispra, VA, Italy"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2016,9,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"67","DOI":"10.1038\/nature13947","article-title":"The performance and potential of protected areas","volume":"515","author":"Watson","year":"2014","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"9996","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.0914177107","article-title":"Protected areas reduced poverty in Costa Rica and Thailand","volume":"107","author":"Andam","year":"2010","journal-title":"Proc. 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