Professor David Coomes

Research Overview

I’m interested in biodiversity conservation and informing conservation policy through research. My group uses large databases of remotely sensed data and modern computational approaches, alongside traditional field approaches to address fundamental ecological questions as well as the most pressing ecological and biodiversity loss issues. Spaceborne and airborne sensors such as LiDAR, hyperspectral and multispectral sensors collect large amounts of data which allow us to assess the impact of land-use change on carbon storage and biodiversity, and to evaluate the impact of climate change. The use of modern computational approaches such as machine learning algorithms allows us to map with evermore precision species distributions and estimate carbon storage in various landscapes, a key factor in determining the potential of forests as a nature-based solution to climate change.

Project: NERC CREATES Doctoral Landscape Award

Summary

Ecosystem change and biodiversity conservation through field research, AI and remote sensing .

Supervisor Research Area

I am committed to finding solutions to the biodiversity crisis and recognise that this requires multi-disciplinary research and collaboration with non-academic partner. I am particularly interested in how high-resolution sensor data can be used to assess ecosystem and ecological change, inform conservation strategies, and support the regeneration of natural habitats. I am also interested in the fundamental processes driving these changes (e.g. climate responses of tropical forests). The team’s work spans the application of cost-effective, nature-based solutions for landscape restoration and climate resilience, with a strong emphasis on harnessing artificial intelligence and cross-disciplinary approaches. Collaborating with stakeholders and government, the team seeks to develop data-driven approaches that facilitate sustainable ecosystem management and contribute to the recovery of landscapes and ecological processes.   
I co-lead the NERC-funded Centre for Landscape Regeneration,  which is discovering ways to better manage the UK countryside. This collaboration involves the RSPB, UK-CEH and ELSP. I lead a collaboration with the world’s largest pulp and paper company, that is committed to a sustainable future including large-scale restoration of native forests in Brazil. I work with computer scientists on TESSERA, a foundation model that processes time-series of satellite imagery for applications such as habitat classification.

Project Interests

Projects aligned with the  Centre for Landscape Regeneration and my interests in remote sensing and AI approaches (including TESSERA). Projects involving working on large-scale restoration of native forests, including work with plantation companies.   Projects exploring the resilience of tropical forests to climate change using repeat drone imagery to characterise the responses of individual trees to climate events.

Key Publications

'Woodlands Chapter in Nature-based Solutions for Climate Change in the UK: A Report by the British Ecological Society', (2021), British Ecological Society.

'Resilience of Spanish forests to recent droughts and climate change', (2020), Global Change Biology.

'A research agenda for microclimate ecology in human-modified tropical forests', (2020), Frontiers in Forests and Global Change.

'Dynamics of a human-modified tropical peat swamp forest revealed by repeat lidar surveys', (2020), Global Change Biology.

;Forest microclimate dynamics drive plant responses to warming', (2020), Science.

For all publications see Google Scholar