VAGLIO LAURIN GAIA
Position: TECNOLOGO
Type: T.D.
Phone: 06-90672893
Location: Montelibretti (RM)
Research Lines: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Ecological processes
Gaia Vaglio Laurin is a biologist, specialized in biodiversity conservation and the application of remote sensing tools to monitor natural resources.
Her research focuses on the use of lidar, multispectral, hyperspectral and radar data to classify and quantify variables of interest in conservation and sustainable management of natural resources, in particular forests, integrating in-situ data with remotely collected imagery. She also investigated the use of remote sensing to assess biodiversity, vegetation health, and pathogens invasions in different natural ecosystems and agriculture environments.
She holds two Master of Science and a PhD, and worked since more than two decades in academic institutions, governmental bodies (including UN FAO, European Union) and private industries, developing tools to bring innovation in the monitoring of resources.
She has a strong record of scientific publications, and acted as expert for the European Space Agency, the Belgium Space Agency, and the Horizon 2020 EU program. She also worked for the international cooperation sector, carrying out programs in developing countries to support sustainable management of protected areas and wildlife and floristic conservation.
Production
–Vaglio Laurin, G., Sebastiani, A., Nardella, L., Calfapietra, C., Barbati, A., Ventura, B., & Papale, D. (2024, November). Linking hyperspectral PRISMA data with ecosystem functional properties at ICOS sites. In Remote Sensing for Agriculture, Ecosystems, and Hydrology XXVI (Vol. 13191, pp. 170-175). SPIE.
-Sebastiani, A., Semeraro, T., Monti, F., Titocci, J., Liberatore, L., Basset, A., … & Vaglio Laurin, G. (2024, November). Linking the structural parameters of a priority Natura 2000 grassland to SAR and optical data. In Microwave Remote Sensing: Data Processing and Applications III (Vol. 13195, p. 1319502). SPIE.
-Zabeo, C., Vaglio Laurin, G., Tesfamariam, B. G., Giuliarelli, D., Valentini, R., & Barbati, A. (2024). A multi-source approach to mapping habitat diversity: Combination of multi-date multispectral satellite imagery and comparison with single-date hyperspectral results in a Mediterranean Natural Reserve. Ecological Informatics, 84, 102867.
-Sebastiani, A., Bertozzi, M., Vannini, A., Morales-Rodriguez, C., Calfapietra, C., & Vaglio Laurin, G. (2024). Monitoring ink disease epidemics in chestnut and cork oak forests in central Italy with remote sensing. Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment, 36, 101329.
-Li, X., Li, L., Ni, W., Mu, X., Wu, X., Vaglio Laurin, G., … & Huang, H. (2024). Validating GEDI tree canopy cover product across forest types using co-registered aerial LiDAR data. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 207, 326-337.
–Vaglio Laurin G., Cotrina-Sanchez A., Belelli-Marchesin L.i, Tomelleri E., Battipaglia G., Cocozza C., Niccoli F., Kabala J. P., Gianelle D., Vescovo L., Da Ros L., Riccardo Valentini (2024). Comparing ground below-canopy and satellite spectral data for an improved and integrated forest phenology monitoring system, Ecological Indicators, Volume 158, 2024, 111328, ISSN 1470-160X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2023.111328.
-Moudrý, V., Cord, A. F., Gábor, L., Vaglio Laurin, G., Barták, V., Gdulová, K., … & Wild, J. (2023). Vegetation structure derived from airborne laser scanning to assess species distribution and habitat suitability: The way forward. Diversity and Distributions, 29(1), 39-50.
–Vaglio Laurin, G., Francini, S., Penna, D., Zuecco, G., Chirici, G., Berman, E., … & Valentini, R. (2022). SnowWarp: An open science and open data tool for daily monitoring of snow dynamics. Environmental Modelling & Software, 156, 105477.
–Vaglio Laurin, G., Mattioli, W., Innocenti, S., Lombardo, E., Valentini, R., & Puletti, N. (2022). Potential of ALOS2 Polarimetric Imagery to Support Management of Poplar Plantations in Northern Italy. Remote Sensing, 14(20), 5202.
-Liang et al. (including Vaglio Laurin G.) (2022). Co-limitation toward lower latitudes shapes global forest diversity gradients. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 6, pages 1423–1437.
-Araza A, …… , Vaglio Laurin G., …. (2022). A comprehensive framework for assessing the accuracy and uncertainty of global above-ground biomass maps. Remote sensing of Environment. 272, 112917.
–Rozendaal D. M. A, Suarez D.R,…..Vaglio Laurin G., ….and Herold M. (2021). Aboveground forest biomass varies across continents, ecological zones and successional stages: refined IPCC default values for tropical and subtropical forests. Env. Res. Letters. Accepted Manuscript online 22 December 2021.
–Vaglio Laurin G., Puletti N., Tattoni C., Ferrara C., Pirotti F. (2021). Estimated biomass loss caused by the Vaia windthrow in Northern Italy: evaluation of active and passive remote sensing options. Remote Sens. 2021, volume 13, issue 23, 4924.
-Santoro, M., Cartus, O., Carvalhais, N., … Vaglio Laurin G.., … & Balzter, H. (2021). The global forest above-ground biomass pool for 2010 estimated from high-resolution satellite observations. Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 3927–3950, 2021
-Vafaei, S., Fathizadeh, O., Puletti, N., Fadaei, H., Baqer Rasooli, S., & Vaglio Laurin, G. (2021). Estimation of forest leaf area index using satellite multispectral and synthetic aperture radar data in Iran. iForest-Biogeosciences and Forestry, 14(3), 278.
–Vaglio Laurin G., Francini S., Luti T., Chirici G., Pirotti F., Papale D. (2020) Satellite open data to monitor forest damage caused by extreme climate-induced events: a case study of the Vaia storm in Northern Italy. Forestry 94(3), 407-416.
–Vaglio Laurin, G.., Puletti, N., Grotti, M., Stereńczak, K., Modzelewska, A., Lisiewicz, M., … & Papale, D. (2020). Species dominance and above ground biomass in the Białowieża Forest, Poland, described by airborne hyperspectral and lidar data. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 92, 102178.
-Stereńczak, K., Vaglio Laurin, G., Chirici, G., Coomes, D. A., Dalponte, M., Latifi, H., & Puletti, N. (2020). Global Airborne Laser Scanning Data Providers Database (GlobALS)—A New Tool for Monitoring Ecosystems and Biodiversity. Remote Sensing, 12(11), 1877.
–Vaglio Laurin, G., Vittucci, C., Tramontana, G., Ferrazzoli, P., Guerriero, L., & Papale, D. (2020). Monitoring tropical forests under a functional perspective with satellite based Vegetation Optical Depth. Global Change Biology.
– Ma, X., Mahecha, M. D., Migliavacca, M., van der Plas, F., Benavides, R., Ratcliffe, S., Vaglio Laurin G, …… & Barnoaiea, I. (2019). Inferring plant functional diversity from space: the potential of Sentinel-2. Remote Sensing of Environment, 233, 111368.
– Vaglio Laurin, G., Ding, J., Disney, M., Bartholomeus, H., Herold, M., Papale, D., & Valentini, R. (2019). Tree height in tropical forest as measured by different ground, proximal, and remote sensing instruments, and impacts on above ground biomass estimates. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 82, 101899.
– C.Vittucci, G.Vaglio Laurin, G.Tramontana, P.Ferrazzoli, L.Guerriero, D.Papale (2019). Vegetation optical depth at L-band and above ground biomass in the tropical range: Evaluating their relationships at continental and regional scales. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation Volume 77, May 2019, Pages 151-161.
– C. Vittucci, P. Ferrazzoli, Y. Kerr, P. Richaume, G. Vaglio Laurin, L. Guerriero (2018). Analysis of vegetation optical depth and soil moisture retrieved by SMS over tropical forests. IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, vol. 16, issue 4.
-Ferreira, M. P., do Amaral, C. H., Vaglio Laurin, G., Kokaly, R., de Souza Filho, C. R., & Shimabukuro, Y. E. (2018). 8. Characteristics of Tropical Tree Species in Hyperspectral and Multispectral Data. In: Biophysical and Biochemical Characterization and Plant Species Studies. CRC Press.
–Vaglio Laurin G., Belli C., Bianconi R., Laranci P., Papale D. (2018). Early mapping of industrial tomato in Central and Southern Italy with Sentinel 2, aerial and RapidEye additional data. The Journal of Agricultural Science, 1-12.
–Vaglio Laurin G, Avezzano R, Bacciu V, Del Frate F, Papale D, Virelli M. (2018) COSMO-SkyMed time-series potential to detect and monitor Mediterranean maquis fires and regrowth: a pilot study in Capo Figari, Sardinia, Italy. iForest-Biogeosciences and Forestry, 11(3), 389.
–Vaglio Laurin, G., Balling, J., Corona, P., Mattioli, W., Papale, D., Puletti, N., … & Urban, M. (2018). Above-ground biomass prediction by Sentinel-1 multitemporal data in central Italy with integration of ALOS2 and Sentinel-2 data. Journal of Applied Remote Sensing, 12(1), 016008.
-Cazzolla Gatti R, Vaglio Laurin G, Valentini R., (2017). Tree species diversity of three Ghanaian reserves. iForest-Biogeosciences and Forestry, 10(2), 362—368.
–Vaglio Laurin G., Pirotti F., Callegari M., Chen Q., Cuozzo G., Lingua E., Notarnicola C., Papale D. (2016) Potential of ALOS 2 and NDVI to estimate forest above ground biomass, and comparison with lidar-derived estimates. Remote Sens. 9(1), 18; doi:10.3390/rs9010018
–Vaglio Laurin G., Puletti N., Chen Q., Corona P., Valentini R., (2016). Above ground biomass and tree species richness estimation with airborne lidar in tropical Ghana forests. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation 52 (2016) 371–379.
–Vaglio Laurin G., Puletti N., Hawthorne W., Liesenberg V., Corona P., Papale D., Chen Q., Valentini R., (2016). Discrimination of tropical forest types, dominant species, and mapping of functional guilds by hyperspectral and simulated multispectral Sentinel-2 data. Remote Sensing of Environment 176 (2016) 163–176.
-Bertolini, T., Flechard, C., Fattore, F., Nicolini, G., Stefani, P., Materia, S., Valentini, R., Vaglio Laurin, G., Castaldi, S., (2016). Dry and bulk atmospheric nitrogen deposition to a West African humid forest exposed to terrestrial and oceanic sources. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology Volumes 218–219, Pages 184-195
-Vittucci C., Ferrazzoli P., Kerr Y., Richaume P., Guerriero L., Rahmoune R., Vaglio Laurin G., (2016). SMOS retrieval over forests: exploitation of optical depth and tests of soil moisture estimates. Remote Sensing of Environment (doi:10.1016/j.rse.2016.03.004).
– Vaglio Laurin G, Hawthorne W, Chiti T, Di Paola A, Cazzolla Gatti R, Noce S, Grieco E, Marconi S, Pirotti F, Valentini R., (2015). Does degradation from selective logging and illegal activities differently impact forest resources? A case study in Ghana. iForest Biogeosciences and Forestry 2015 doi: 10.3832/ifor1779-008.
-Kent R., A. Lindsell J.A., Vaglio Laurin G., Valentini R. and Coomes D.A. (2015). Airborne LiDAR as a tool for detecting selectively logged tropical forests in an advanced stage of recovery. Remote Sensing, 7(7), 8348-8367.
-Avitabile, V; Herold, M; Heuvelink, G; Lewis, S; Phillips, O; Asner, G; Armston, J; Ashton, P; Banin, L; Bayol, N; Berry, N; Boeckx, P; de Jong, B; Girardin, C; Kearsley, E; Lindsell, J; N-Gonzalez, G; Lucas, R; Malhi, Y; Morel, A; Mitchard, E; Nagy, L; Qie, L; Quiñones, M; Ryan, C; Slik, F; Sunderland, T; Vaglio Laurin, G; Valentini, R; Verbeeck, H; Wijaya, A; Willcock, S. 2016. An integrated pan-tropical biomass map using multiple reference datasets. Global Change Biology doi:10.1111/gcb.13139
-Chen Q., Vaglio Laurin G., Valentini R. 2015 Uncertainty of Remotely Sensed Aboveground Biomass over an African Tropical Forest: Propagating Errors from Trees to Plots to Pixels. Remote Sensing of Environment, Volume 160, April 2015, Pages 134–143.
-Vaglio Laurin G., Chen Q., Lindsell J., Coomes D., Del Frate F., Guerriero L., Pirotti F., Valentini R., 2014. Above ground biomass estimation in an African tropical forest with lidar and hyperspectral data. Intl. Journal of Photogram. and Remote Sensing 89 (2014) 49-58.
-Vaglio Laurin G., Chan J., Chen Q., Lindsell J., Coomes D., Guerriero L., Del Frate F., Miglietta F., Valentini R., 2014. Biodiversity mapping in a tropical West African forest with airborne hyperspectral data. Plos One DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0097910.
-Pirotti F., Vaglio Laurin G., Vettore A., and Valentini R.. Can small-footprint full-waveform metrics contribute to predict forest structural characteristics in tropical forests? Remote Sensing 2014, 6(10), 9576-9599.
-Valentini, R., Arneth, A., Bombelli, A., Castaldi, S., Cazzolla Gatti, R., Chevallier, F., Ciais, P., Grieco, E., Hartmann, J., Henry, M., Houghton, R. A., Jung, M., Kutsch, W. L., Malhi, Y., Mayorga, E., Merbold, L., Murray-Tortarolo, G., Papale, D., Peylin, P., Poulter, B., Raymond, P. A., Santini, M., Sitch, S., Vaglio Laurin, G., van der Werf, G. R., Williams, C. A., and Scholes, R. J., 2014. The full greenhouse gases budget of Africa: synthesis, uncertainties and vulnerabilities, Biogeosciences, 10, 8343-8413.
-Vaglio Laurin G., Del Frate F., Pasolli L., Notarnicola C., Guerriero L., Valentini R., 2013b. Discrimination of vegetation types in alpine sites with Alos Palsar, Radarsat2 and lidar derived information. International Journal of Remote Sensing 34(19), 6898-6913
-Vaglio Laurin, G., Liesenberg V., Chen Q., Guerriero L., Del Frate F., Bartolini A., Coomes D., Wilebore B., Lindsell J., and Valentini R., 2013. Optical and SAR sensor synergies for forest and land cover mapping in a tropical site in West Africa, International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 21, 7-16.
-Lu, D., Q. Chen, G. Wang, E. Moran, M. Batistella, M. Zhang, G. Vaglio Laurin, and D. Saah, 2012. Aboveground forest biomass estimation with Landsat and LiDAR data and uncertainty analysis of the estimates. International Journal of Forestry Research. Article ID 436537, 16 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/436537.
-Chen, Q., G. Vaglio Laurin, J. Battles, and D. Saah, 2012. Integration of airborne lidar and vegetation types derived from aerial photography for mapping aboveground live biomass. Remote Sensing of Environment, 121, 108-117.
-L. Pasolli, C. Notarnicola, L. Bruzzone, G. Bertoldi, S. Della Chiesa, V. Hell, G. Niedrist, U. Tappeiner, M. Zebisch, F. Del Frate, and G. Vaglio Laurin. Estimation of Soil Moisture in an Alpine Catchment with RADARSAT2 Images. Applied and Environmental Soil Science, Volume 2011 (2011), Article ID 175473, 12 pages
–Vaglio Laurin G.. 2011.Tecniche di osservazione della Terra: monitorare gli stock di carbonio nelle foreste tropicali per la mitigazione dei cambiamenti climatici. Biologi Italiani, settembre 2011.
-Pace G., Vaglio Laurin G., Pires Do Rosario L., Sciortino M.. Space for the UNCCD and the Desertwatch project. 2008 In: Desertification and Risk Analysis Using High and Medium Resolution Satellite Data Training Workshop on Mapping Desertification. Book Series NATO Science for Peace and Security Series C: Environmental Security. Springer Netherland.
-Arledler A., Castracane P., Marin A., Mica S., Pace G., Quartulli M., Vaglio Laurin G., Alfari I., Trebossen H., Detecting Water Bodies and Water Related Features in the Niger Basin (Niamey Area) Using SAR Data: the ESA
TIGER WADE Project. In: Application of satellite remote sensing to support water resources management in
Africa: Results from the TIGER Initiative. IHP-VII No.85 (Technical Documents in Hydrology) UNESCO, Paris,
2010
– Vaglio Laurin G. and L. Ongaro, 2006. Mapping the suitability of potential conservation sites: a case study in Northern Tunisia. Journal of Agriculture and Environment for International Development, 2006, 100 (1/2): 3-28.
-Fabietti W., Vaglio Laurin G., 2004. ‘Censimento delle risorse naturali’. In: Antiche infrastrutture per uno sviluppo compatibile. Pp. 118-124. Università di Chieti-Pescara, Università del Molise, Ministero dell’Ambiente. Dierre edizioni.
-Salvatori V., Vaglio Laurin G., , P.L. Meserve, L. Boitani & A. Campanella. 1999. Spatial organization, activity, and social interactions of culpeo foxes (Pseudalopex culpaeus) in north-central Chile. Journal of Mammalogy,80 (3):980-985.
Research fields
Monitoring and studying natural ecosystem is critical for biodiversity conservation, also in view of climate change impacts. Biodiversity can be addressed at different levels (genetic, species, ecosystems): the ecosystem biodiversity includes functional variability, habitats and communities, ecosystem services, and ecological processes.
Remote sensing is a powerful tool to study ecosystems, producing spatially explicit data and being able to upscale local measures over broad ranges.
Project activities include the use of innovative remote sensing data (from satellite, airborne and UAV) to characterize: (a) Ecosystem Functional Properties (EFP) and functional traits, (b) Habitats, e (c) Biodiversity indices.
- The Ecosystem Functional Properties line develop models that integrate data over biochemical fluxes of ecosystems (i.e. Gross Primary Productivity, Light Use Efficiency, Water Use Efficiency, ecc.) collected by international research infrastructures such as ICOS, FLUXNET etc., or functional traits of vegetation, with hyperspectral and lidar data from satellites (PRISMA, EnMAP, GEDI etc.). The EFPs describe productivity and efficiency in resources use (water, carbon, light) of natural ecosystems, while functional traits represent features about morphology, ecology, and phenology of species.
- The Habitats line integrates hypespectral, multispectral, and lidar data to advance in ecosystem classification producing a high thematic resolution level of detail, thus classifying habitats and species dominance in biodiversity valuable areas (Natura 2000).
- The Biodiversity indices line, e.g. species or traits richness and abundance, establishes relationships between spectral response from multiple satellite data and biodiversity as measured on the ground (Spectral Variation Hypothesis).
External participations
Since 2022 Gaia teaches the graduate course ‘Laboratory of Ecological Landscape Planning’ at the University of Tuscia