SVeBio (Statistics for vegetation biodiversity: estimation and mapping) is a 24 months (30/11/2023 - 30/11/2025) project funded by Bando PRIN-PNRR 2022.

The biodiversity decline is a primary concern. In Italy, the evidence of the problem is now so widely and urgently perceived that in February 2022 the Parliament approved two articles of its Constitution Chart (9 and 41) to introduce the central role of biodiversity as a constitutional value that deserves specific protection for public interest. Vegetation plays a crucial role in biodiversity, as it influences almost every facet of the biophysical world and is an integral part of ecosystem composition, function, and structure, so that the conservation of biodiversity is, in turn, utterly dependent on the conservation of vegetation biodiversity. Therefore, the geographical depiction of the spatial pattern of habitats, biodiversity indexes or other attributes of interest is essential for performing effective conservation strategies and halting biodiversity decline. These reasons motivated our research project which aims to develop innovative and efficient methods for estimating population parameters and construing wall-to-wall maps to assess and monitor vegetation biodiversity.

More precisely, SVeBio will provide MODEL-BASED and MODEL-ASSISTED methods for producing SPATIAL MAPS by exploiting multiple data sources: probability sampling surveys, purposive field campaigns and remote sensing information. In particular, the use of model-based predictions as proxies for the model-assisted interpolation will be investigated. This combined/hybrid strategy should take advantage of the strength of both approaches. Importantly, all the maps will be equipped with an uncertainty evaluation.

SVeBio will focus on two relevant and vulnerable repositories of biodiversity: FORESTS and COASTAL SAND DUNES.

If you want to read more about the projects have a look here!

The SVeBio team is composed by statisticians from the University of Bergamo, Siena and Torino. Moreover, experts and stakeholders will collaborate to the project. See here for meeting the SVeBio researchers.