Articles | Volume 23, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-1223-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-1223-2026
Research article
 | 
12 Feb 2026
Research article |  | 12 Feb 2026

Satellite-derived Ecosystem Functional Types capture ecosystem functional heterogeneity at regional scale

Beatriz P. Cazorla, Ana Meijide, Javier Cabello, Julio Peñas, Javier Martínez-López, Rodrigo Vargas, Leonardo Montagnani, Alexander Knohl, Lukas Siebicke, Benimiano Gioli, Jiří Dušek, Ladislav Šigut, Andreas Ibrom, Georg Wohlfahrt, Eugénie Paul-Limoges, Kathrin Fuchs, Antonio Manco, Marian Pavelka, Lutz Merbold, Lukas Hörtnagl, Pierpaolo Duce, Ignacio Goded, Kim Pilegaard, and Domingo Alcaraz-Segura

Related authors

Matching scales of eddy covariance measurements and process-based modeling – assessing spatiotemporal dynamics of carbon and water fluxes in a mixed forest in Southern Germany
Hassane Moutahir, Markus Sulzer, Ralf Kiese, Andreas Christen, Markus Weiler, Lea Dedden, Julian Brzozon, Pia Labenski, Prajwal Khanal, Ladislav Šigut, and Rüdiger Grote
Biogeosciences, 23, 1719–1738, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-1719-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-1719-2026, 2026
Short summary
Multi-stress interaction effects on BVOC emission fingerprints from Oak and Beech: A cross-investigation using Machine Learning and Positive Matrix Factorization
Biplob Dey, Toke Due Sjøgren, Peeyush Khare, Georgios I. Gkatzelis, Yizhen Wu, Sindhu Vasireddy, Martin Schultz, Alexander Knohl, Riikka Rinnan, Thorsten Hohaus, and Eva Y. Pfannerstill
Biogeosciences, 23, 1423–1457, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-1423-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-1423-2026, 2026
Short summary
A multiyear eddy covariance and meteorological dataset from five pairs of agroforestry systems with open cropland or grassland in Northern Germany
José Ángel Callejas-Rodelas, Justus van Ramshorst, Alexander Knohl, Lukas Siebicke, Dietmar Fellert, Marek Peksa, Dirk Böttger, and Christian Markwitz
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 18, 845–874, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-845-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-845-2026, 2026
Short summary
Modelling N₂O Emissions in Fertilized Grasslands with Machine Learning: A Multi-Site LSTM Approach
Samin Payrosangari, Kathrin Fuchs, Benjamin Wolf, Ralf Kiese, and Clemens Scheer
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5155,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5155, 2025
Short summary
Relative uptake of carbonyl sulphide to CO2: insights from a coupled boundary layer – canopy inverse modelling framework
Peter J. M. Bosman, Maarten C. Krol, Laurens N. Ganzeveld, Felix M. Spielmann, and Georg Wohlfahrt
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4714,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4714, 2025
Short summary

Cited articles

Alcaraz-Segura, D., Paruelo, J., and Cabello, J.: Identification of current ecosystem functional types in the Iberian Peninsula, Global Ecology and Biogeography, 15, 200–212, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1466-822X.2006.00215.x, 2006. 
Alcaraz-Segura, D., Paruelo, J. M., Epstein, H. E., and Cabello, J.: Environmental and human controls of ecosystem functional diversity in temperate South America, Remote Sens., 5, 127–154, https://doi.org/10.3390/rs5010127, 2013. 
Arenas-Castro, S., Gonçalves, J., Alves, P., Alcaraz-Segura, D., and Honrado, J. P.: Assessing the multi-scale predictive ability of ecosystem functional attributes for species distribution modelling, PLoS ONE, 13, e0199292, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0199292, 2018. 
Arenas-Castro, S., Regos, A., Gonçalves, J. F., Alcaraz-Segura, D., and Honrado, J.: Remotely sensed variables of ecosystem functioning support robust predictions of abundance patterns for rare species, Remote Sens., 11, 2086, https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11182086, 2019. 
Armstrong, A., Alcaraz-Segura, D., Raynolds, M., and Epstein, H.: Ecosystem functional types of the circumpolar Arctic tundra based on the seasonal dynamics of vegetation productivity, Environ. Res. Ecol., 3, 025003, https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-664X/ad4beb, 2024. 
Download
Short summary
We assess whether satellite-derived Ecosystem Functional Types (EFTs) reflect spatial heterogeneity in carbon fluxes across Europe. Using Eddy Covariance data from 50 sites, we show that EFTs capture distinct Net Ecosystem Exchange dynamics and perform slightly better than Plant Functional Types (PFTs). EFTs offer a scalable, annually updatable approach to monitor ecosystem functioning and its interannual variability.
Share
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint