The European Union faces an ongoing decline in biodiversity partly caused by changes in land-use such as the simultaneous phenomena of extensivation and intensification in agriculture. Legally binding directives (FFH directive, bird directive, water directive, etc.) that aim at implementing global conventions on an EU-scale imply regular reporting and scientific success control obligations for all member states.

The Z_GIS research field ?Landscape monitoring and nature conservation? investigates methods for monitoring, assessing, quantifying and predicting those changes in an objective, transparent and automated manner. Outcomes and products provide scientifically sound, yet operational tools and methods for landscape structure assessment and the monitoring of landscape change dynamics.