Combining Multispectral and Radar Imagery with Machine Learning Techniques to Map Intertidal Habitats for Migratory Shorebirds

Migratory shorebirds are notable consumers of benthic invertebrates on intertidal sediments. The distribution and abundance of shorebirds will strongly depend on their prey and on landscape and sediment features such as mud and surface water content, topography, and the presence of ecosystem engineers. An understanding of shorebird distribution and ecology thus requires knowledge of the various habitat types which may be distinguished in intertidal areas. Here, we combine Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 imagery and a digital elevation model (DEM), using machine learning techniques to map intertidal habitat types of importance to migratory shorebirds and their benthic prey. We do this on the third most important non-breeding area for migratory shorebirds in the East Atlantic Flyway, in the Bijagos Archipelago in West Africa. Using pixel-level random forests, we successfully mapped rocks, shell beds, and macroalgae and distinguished between areas of bare sediment and areas occupied by fiddler crabs, an ecosystem engineer that promotes significant bioturbation on intertidal flats. We also classified two sediment types (sandy and mixed) within the bare sediment and fiddler crab areas, according to their mud content. The overall classification accuracy was 82%, and the Kappa Coefficient was 73%. The most important predictors were elevation, the Sentinel-2-derived water and moisture indexes, and Sentinel-1 VH band. The association of Sentinel-2 with Sentinel-1 and a DEM produced the best results compared to the models without these variables. This map provides an overall picture of the composition of the intertidal habitats in a site of international importance for migratory shorebirds. Most of the intertidal flats of the Bijagos Archipelago are covered by bare sandy sediments (59%), and ca. 22% is occupied by fiddler crabs. This likely has significant implications for the spatial arrangement of the shorebird and benthic invertebrate communities due to the ecosystem engineering by the fiddler crabs, which promotes two vastly different intertidal species assemblages. This large-scale mapping provides an important product for the future monitoring of this high biodiversity area, particularly for ecological research related to the distribution and feeding ecology of the shorebirds and their prey. Such information is key from a conservation and management perspective. By delivering a successful and comprehensive mapping workflow, we contribute to the filling of the current knowledge gap on the application of remote sensing and machine learning techniques within intertidal areas, which are among the most challenging environments to map using remote sensing techniques.

Automated summary

This study used remote sensing and machine learning techniques to map intertidal habitat types important to migratory shorebirds and their prey. The results showed that most of the intertidal flats in the Bijagos Archipelago are covered with bare sandy sediments, with 22% occupied by fiddler crabs. This has significant implications for the spatial arrangement of shorebird and benthic invertebrate communities.