Mapping and assessing land cover/land use and aboveground carbon stocks rapid changes in small oceanic islands' terrestrial ecosystems: A case study of Madeira Island, Portugal (2009-2011)

Small islands face environmental issues directly or indirectly related to land cover/land use changes (LCLUC), such as natural hazards, climate change, loss of biodiversity and proliferation of invasive alien species, some of which are caused by direct human exploitation. A Land Cover/Land Use Change (LCLUC) detection approach based on PCA and vegetation indices derived from low cost high-resolution RapidEye multispectral satellite data and available vegetation maps was developed to assess vegetated/forested aboveground carbon stocks and their changes in Madeira Island, Portugal, for the period between December 2009 and August 2011 due to catastrophic events occurred in 2010.