CyanoSCape Airborne Campaign

In Southern Africa, the impacts of anthropogenic activities on biodiversity and ecosystem

services are exacerbated by the climate crisis. Rapid land use change and the lack of

emphasis on environmentally sustainable agricultural practices has hindered hydrological

processes and compromised riverine and aquatic ecosystems. This poses obvious risks to

natural/indigenous aquatic biodiversity and long-term ecosystem sustainability.

Phytoplankton serve as the foundation of the freshwater food web. The diversity of

phytoplankton includes photosynthesizing bacteria (cyanobacteria), plant-like diatoms,

dinoflagellates, and green algae. Nutrient run-off from agricultural fertilizers and urban

overflows, warm temperatures, abundant light availability and compromised hydrological

systems provide an ideal environment for cyanobacteria to flourish and can incur significant

effects on the biodiversity of the overall phytoplankton assemblage. These conditions also

provide a favorable environment for the overgrowth of floating aquatic vegetation (FAV),

which is often invasive and associated with reduced aquatic biodiversity.

The algal biodiversity of the GCFR’s freshwater systems is not well characterized.

Hyperspectral optical observations (e.g, BioSCape campaign) are expected to facilitate the

improvement of current phytoplankton diversity, as the sensitivity is sufficient that the

distinctive, fine spectral features of different phytoplankton groups can be detected. This will

enable testing emerging algorithms and inform the development of new algorithms for use

with upcoming hyperspectral satellite missions in this decade.

Innovations in optical sensor sensitivity and next generation machine learning capabilities

considerably enhance the potential for accurate and rapid detection of phytoplankton,

presence, extent, and diversity and additionally, invasive FAV.