Vanessa is responsible for spatial and statistical analysis as well as the consulting and implementation of holistic monitoring concepts for nature conservation. Her research focus is on the integration of new technologies in biodiversity monitoring and ecological modelling (e.g. habitat modelling & ecosystem services). At the Carinthia University of Applied Sciences she teaches the course “Conservation Technologies Methods, Tools, and Equipment”.
Vanessa finished her master’s study in Ecology and Biodiversity at the University of Innsbruck. Her main focus during the study was on ecosystem research and landscape ecology. Before starting at E.C.O. Institut für Ökologie in 2017 she was an intern at Hohe Tauern National Park and the District Department of Environment in Kitzbühel.
Technical Vision Talk: “Digitizing the forest – from individual trees to carbon storage of forest ecosystems”
Forest ecosystems provide a variety of different ecosystem services such as carbon storage, erosion control, timber production, climate regulation, tourism and recreation. Storage of carbon in forest ecosystems represents a cost-efficient way to absorb CO2 from the air and thus counteract climate change. Moreover, forest ecosystems represent an important habitat for a wide variety of species and thus play an important role in the conservation of biodiversity. It is therefore important to record the condition of forest ecosystems in a comprehensible and, above all, comparable manner.
In recent years, ever more data sets and technologies have become available to monitor forest ecosystems. These range from current high-resolution aerial imagery for field assessment to the creation of digital twin virtual 3D models of monitoring plots. These technologies make it possible to perform digital data acquisition directly in the field at the individual tree level. Knowing forest condition, CO2 certificates based on the wood volume and growth rate can be created based on reproducible results.
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Thu. May 19 | 10:10 am– Technical Vision Talk: “Digitizing the forest – from individual trees to carbon storage of forest ecosystems”