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Patterns of plant taxonomic, functional diversity and productivity along space and time in dryland woodlands
No full textDrylands occupy 47% of the world’s terrestrial area and comprise important biodiversity hotspots such as the Mediterranean Basin, where one can find high levels of plant diversity and endemism. At the same time, they provide resources for human populations, being cattle grazing one of the main activities in dryland ecosystems. Mediterranean woodlands and pastures are currently under threat with increasing aridity due to climate change. Aridity, together with human exploitation, pushes these ecosystems towards land degradation, leading to decreased diversity, ecosystem functioning, and economical value. Understanding how plant communities respond to climate in the long-term, as well as climatic fluctuations, is crucial to anticipate the impacts of climate change in these ecosystems and build a knowledge base to design adaptation and restoration measures and promote their resilience. In the western Mediterranean Basin dryland areas are commonly occupied with oak open woodlands. It is an agro-silvo-pastoral system with a savannah-like structure, dominated by oaks with a species-rich understory of pastures and shrubs. In Portugal, this system is called montado, and due to its socio-economic and ecological importance, it is currently monitored within the LTsER montado platform. The herbaceous layer, dominated by annual species, is a major component of this system’s diversity. While these pastures are adapted to dryland climatic conditions, its annual turnover may make these communities quick responders to environmental changes, providing a good model system to study the effects of climate on diversity and ecosystem functioning.In this work, we aim to assess the effects of long-term climate and yearly climatic fluctuations on plant taxonomic and functional diversity and on pasture productivity, as well as the relationship between diversity and productivity.We sampled the understory plant community of 10 holm-oak open woodlands along a spatial aridity gradient in southern Portugal in multiple years, 5-7 times, between 2012 and 2022. A stratified random selection of sites was made, avoiding as much as possible confounding effects, namely from differences in slope, elevation and fire occurrence.The plant community was sampled in spring, at the peak standing biomass, with the point-intercept method along six 20 m transects per site. Pasture productivity was measured by collecting the aerial herbaceous biomass in three 30 cm squares placed randomly in each site. Functional diversity was calculated using mean trait values per species retrieved from online databases.We fit linear mixed-effects models to assess the relationship between long- and short-term climate variables and taxonomic and functional diversity. We further explored the role of diversity on productivity with structure equation modeling. To assess the patterns of compositional changes along space and time, we determined compositional and functional dissimilarity among sites and among years.Preliminary results show that both productivity and species diversity increase with annual precipitation and winter temperature, while long-term aridity does not seem to be a main driver. On the other hand, species compositional changes between years suggests that more arid sites have higher species turnover, and possibly a higher species richness considering both dry and more wet years, while less arid sites are more stable along time. In this presentation, we will further explore these patterns and assess the role of functional traits and functional diversity as a means by which communities adapt to climatic conditions, and how these influence pasture productivity. These findings may then contribute to a discussion on the projections on future scenarios for these ecosystems and which adaptation and restoration measures may be adopted to promote its sustainability and resilience
Can we trust multispectral drone datasets for eLTER variables monitoring? Sensors sensitivity and applications.
No full textMultispectral drone data are widely used for monitoring vegetated critical zones. Numerous indices derived from remotely sensed data provide objective and spatially comprehensive observations of land surfaces. These indices are employed in various applications, including precision agriculture (Deng et al. 2018), water stress detection in viticulture (Santesteban et al. 2017; Kandylakis et al. 2020), forest ecology for phenology and health assessment (Ecke et al. 2024, Fraser and Congalton 2021), ecosystem habitat mapping (Alvarez-Vanhard et al. 2020), and soil moisture monitoring (Bertalan et al. 2022). In all these cases, vegetation indices remain fundamental tools for vegetation monitoring.Most studies rely on reflectance data from multispectral sensors calibrated using manufacturer-provided reference panels. These 'plug-and-play' solutions facilitate widespread applications, yet reflectance values are rarely validated against ground-truth spectral signatures. Consequently, users often place unquestioning trust in pre-processed data. Additionally, spectral bands vary across different sensors, much like satellite sensors, further complicating data consistency.This study presents the results of a calibration and validation experiment. Four multispectral sensors (Parrot Sequoia, Micasense Dual MX and Altum-PT, and Spectral Device) with distinct spectral characteristics (spatial and spectral resolution, bandwidth) were compared with spectral signatures obtained using an ASD Fieldspec Pro spectroradiometer. Spectral data were collected along transects in the Sougéal marsh (N 48°51’, W -1°50’, France) , which features diverse herbaceous habitats and varying soil moisture conditions (Fig. 1). The comparison highlights sensor sensitivity and their capacity to provide consistent data. Preliminary results indicate significant quality differences between sensors.Two applications were conducted. The first analyzed NDVI derived from NIR and red bands to evaluate how spectral characteristics and sensitivity impact this commonly used vegetation index. The second application focused on soil moisture monitoring. One sensor, equipped with SWIR bands, was used to estimate soil moisture using the OPTRAM model (Sadeghi et al. 2017). Index values were compared against in situ spectral signatures and soil moisture measurements obtained with a Tetra Probe
Continuous cover forestry in drained peatland forests: Effects of harvesting on CO2 balance at two nutrient-rich sites
No full textGreenhouse gas emissions from drained peatlands have received attention in recent years as countries seek to minimize land-use emissions as part of their climate change mitigation efforts. Continuous cover forestry (CCF) has been proposed as a solution to minimize carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from peatland forests, but despite great interest in its use, information on its effects on forest CO2 balance is very limited.We studied the effects of partial harvesting on forest CO2 balance in two nutrient-rich peatland forest sites Lettosuo (ICOS associate site) and Ränskälänkorpi, both managed with continuous cover forestry. Forest CO2 fluxes were measured with eddy covariance method before and after partial harvesting (Lettosuo 2010-2022, Ränskälänkorpi 2020-2024). Forest CO2 balances after harvest were compared with pre-harvest CO2 balances in both sites and with a control treatment in Ränskälänkorpi, and results from the two sites were compared.The results show large variation in the CO2 balances of the peatland forests, high sensitivity to weather conditions, but similarities between the sites in response to partial harvesting. In both sites, net forest CO2 emissions decreased a few years after partial harvesting but results from Lettosuo indicate that the strengthening of the CO2 sink stabilizes, and the forest CO2 balance starts to transition towards pre-harvest conditions 6-8 years after harvesting. The results indicate a relatively fast recovery of forest CO2 balance after harvesting but suggest that nutrient-rich peatland forests managed with continuous cover forestry might still be sources of CO2 for most of the time
Promoting Landscape Heterogeneity in Silvopastoral Systems through Very High-Voltage Power Line Pylons: An Unconventional Approach
No full textMediterranean silvopastoral systems (Montado in Portugal or Dehesa in Spain) are considered High Nature Value farmlands with sustainable and low-intensity human use that unite forestry and livestock production, being characterized by a habitat mosaic that combines natural and semi-natural grasslands, a tree layer with different densities of Quercus spp. (mainly Q. suber or Q. rotundifolia, or both) and singular landscape elements (e.g. small shrublands, small rocky outcrops, temporary ponds, and watercourses with riparian galleries). Singular landscape elements are crucial to ecosystem services' functioning by providing habitat heterogeneity and connectivity that support species' life cycles and sustain ecological networks. As the management of Mediterranean silvopastoral systems intensifies, with overgrazing threatening the maintenance of singular landscape elements, these systems' functionality and high biodiversity are compromised.Designing restoration solutions tailored to the farmland context could be a helpful strategy to offset the landscape simplification and multifunctionality loss of the silvopastoral systems. Very high-voltage power line pylons, widespread also trough farmlands, can be handled as an artificial singular landscape element by using their base surface to promote native vegetation and provide an opportunity to restore landscape heterogeneity and connectivity to plants and some fauna. The area under very high-voltage pylons is negligible for agricultural or grazing uses and challenging to access by machinery, being frequently left unmanaged and, therefore, available to apply restoration solutions without compromising the landowner's productivity and profitability. Our study tested the hypothesis that vegetation under very high-voltage pylons can be restored to create elements of heterogeneity in grazing systems. We tested two restoration solutions: a passive one by grazing exclusion and an active one that combines grazing exclusion with a native seed mix application. We aimed to assess these restoration solutions' effectiveness in recovering Mediterranean vegetation patches under very high-voltage pylons and their effects on the plant community's composition, diversity and vertical structure.The study, carried out over five years, took place in southern Portugal under 15 very high-voltage pylons (plots of 48m2) distributed in Mediterranean silvopastoral systems grazed by cattle. We fenced 10 plots in autumn 2017: five to Passive Restoration by excluding cattle grazing and promoting natural regeneration, and five to Active Restoration by sowing a seed mix of herbaceous and shrub native species. We also established five plots as control (No Intervention). We surveyed the vegetation and assessed the plants' abundance and the mean vegetation height before (spring 2017) and after the intervention (spring 2018-2021). We evaluated the species richness, Shannon index diversity, vertical structure (vegetation mean height) and the dissimilarity of the community composition between the pre- and post-intervention periods.The restoration solutions increased plant communities' heterogeneity at the landscape level by establishing plant communities underneath very high-voltage pylons that contrast in plant composition and vegetation vertical structure with the surrounding grassland. Although more time-consuming and expensive, the active restoration solution increased species richness and maintained species diversity locally. In contrast, the passive restoration solution, at the local scale, maintained species richness but decreased species diversity. The bases of very high-voltage pylons can effectively be used to create singular landscape elements in grazed systems and may serve as stepping stones between remnants of natural vegetation. Using the bases of very high-voltage pylons to promote native vegetation and increase landscape heterogeneity can be a complementary strategy to offset the adverse effects of overgrazing in silvopastoral systems and a new approach to bring natural elements into agricultural landscapes, as shown in our pilot essay
Hydrological fragmentation alters the spatial configuration of dissolved nutrient and organic carbon concentrations in temperate river networks
No full textIntermittent streams are characterised by a fragmentation phase during which the biogeochemistry of isolated pools differs from that of perennial streams. Studies of the former have mainly focused on arid and Mediterranean climates, although intermittent streams also exist in temperate climates where intensive agriculture and wetter conditions cause high nutrient loads. Our aim was to analyse how hydrological fragmentation alters the spatial variability of dissolved nutrient and organic matter concentrations among isolated pools. We conducted repeated synoptic sampling campaigns along the stream network of the Ria d'Etel catchment (northwest France, 65 km2) during the spring and summer of 2024. We sampled 30 sites and analysed dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations and fluorescence properties, as well as dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN), dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) and soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) concentrations, during three sampling campaigns, including stream recession (27 May 2024), early and late fragmentation (2 and 29 August 2024, respectively). The results showed an increase in the spatial variability of concentrations during hydrological fragmentation. In contrast to the flowing phase, where nutrient concentrations were highly correlated with catchment properties (DIN and agricultural land use; DOC and hydromorphic soils, etc.), concentrations in isolated pools appeared to be disconnected from catchment characteristics. We interpret this observation as a result of local in-stream processes gaining importance in determining concentrations in the isolated pools. More specifically, DOC concentrations were higher in isolated pools than in flowing reaches, while the DIN concentrations were lower. SRP concentrations were lower during the initial formation of isolated pools and then showed no difference compared to the flowing reaches. The chemical composition of the dissolved nitrogen pool also changed, with an increasing proportion of ammonium in DIN and an increasing proportion of DON in total dissolved nitrogen measured in isolated pools, both with greater spatial variability than in flowing reaches. With increasing degree of humification in isolated pools, the DOC composition showed more decomposed DOM with a probable terrestrial source. These results, together with the observed variations in dissolved oxygen concentrations, suggest that anoxic microbial respiration processes drive these concentration changes during hydrological fragmentation. As the number of intermittent streams is predicted to increase under climate change, we anticipate that the biogeochemical conditions that we observed are likely to become more common in temperate aquatic ecosystems
Seasonal dynamics of C and N along the soil-mycorrhiza-plant continuum in a Pinus sylvestris boreal forest
No full textBoreal forests represent one of the most important carbon (C) sinks globally. Current climate change could have unpredictable effects on the processes that regulate the dynamics of C allocation in boreal forests and, consequently, on the terrestrial C balance. In these extremely nutrient-poor ecosystems, symbioses between plant roots and ectomycorrhizal fungi play a crucial role in enhancing nutrient uptake by plants. It was therefore hypothesised that, in a mature Pinus sylvestris boreal forest, there is a phenological and environmental control on C and N exchange. For this reason, at the Hyytiälä Forest Research Station (SMEAR II), equipped with an Eddy-covariance tower for measuring net fluxes of C between the atmosphere and the ecosystem, the seasonal dynamics of C and N allocation along the soil-ectomycorrhiza-host-plant continuum were studied, and the possibility of using the natural abundances of the stable isotopes of C (δ¹³C) and N (δ¹⁵N) as tracers to investigate these processes was evaluated. On the basis of NEE (Net Ecosystem Exchange) and GPP (Gross Primary Productivity) data, three sampling dates from June to October were selected and chemical-isotopic analyses were performed on soil, rhizosphere, mycorrhizal root tips (ECM), roots and leaves. The collected data show a synchronised C allocation towards ECM and xylogenesis, driven by the strong increase of NEE during the spring-summer period. Furthermore, seasonal variations in C and N concentrations along the soil-ECM-plant continuum suggest a close interaction between the cycles of these nutrients. These results agree with the model that, under nutrient-limited conditions, an increased allocation of C to symbiotic fungi would favour an immobilisation of N by the fungi to support their development and metabolism. Conversely, a decrease in C supply to the mycorrhizal fungi would lead to an increase in the amount of N released to the host plant. This hypothesis is supported by δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N analyses that show an isotopic fractionation associated with the exchange of C and N between symbiont fungus and host plant. The results obtained may therefore have significant implications for understanding nutrient exchange within a boreal forest
Enhancing Semantic Interoperability for Land Surface Data: The Role of EarthPortal
No full textThe study of the Earth system involves a wide range of disciplines that are increasingly collaborating to address global challenges like climate change. In France, Data Terra , the national Research e-Infrastructure (e-IR) supports this effort by managing data for five key Earth system components: Ocean, Atmosphere, Solid Earth, Land Surface, and Biodiversity. As part of Earth observation work, numerous themes and studies of the components of the Earth system produce both data derived from sensors installed on satellite or aerial platforms and data from in-situ measurements. It is particularly true with the Land Surface Data and services Hub (Theia) where data produced and used by the scientist enables to characterise the earth surface conditions and analyse their spatio-temporal dynamics over a long time to better understand and quantify the impacts and the resilience of territories faced to an increase of extreme events such as flooding or heat waves.To ensure efficient data management in repositories, the FAIR principles have been established. They are based on four key concepts: Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability. Among these principles, Interoperability remains a crucial yet challenging aspect, essential for enabling seamless data integration, interpretation, and use by both humans and machines. Achieving FAIR interoperability requires the use of controlled vocabularies and structured representation models that align with these principles. Data produced and used by the Theia hub is made available in data repositories and referenced in catalogues. To improve the Interoperability of this data, controlled vocabularies have been produced by experts. Several observatories from the French Critical Zone Research Infrastructure (OZCAR-RI) that produce the in-situ data documenting the continental surfaces use their own vocabulary, which means that the same observed property may have different variable names (e.g. ‘soil moisture’, ‘soil water content’, etc) which is an obstacle to cross-referencing data from these different sources. In order to harmonize this heterogeneous data managed by different communities and make it FAIR into a common system, the Theia/OZCAR thesaurus , a controlled vocabulary for variable names and objects of interest was created. It implements the SKOS and I-ADOPT framework ontologies (Coussot et al. 2024), enabling precise and FAIR-compliant description of variable names. Like an in-situ observation, one or more composite pixels within a satellite image can be considered as a proxy of a measured phenomenon with one or more variables (soil moisture, landcover, biomass, tree height, etc). Although the community experts in this spatial research area understand the specification of a variable, the definition is not the same for all scientists and it is really useful to cross-reference all the definitions in order to sort, map and merge all this without loss of information. Finally, to highlight them with the production of a dictionary that can be easily shared on the web with a common vocabulary. The Theia spatial vocabulary provides a first thesaurus for the main variables calculated as proxy from remote sensing data (satellite or aerial).Alongside distributed infrastructure services, Data Terra RI provides discovery, access, and dissemination tools to enable researchers to effectively conduct their scientific investigations. Among these resources, EarthPortal, a FAIR-compliant semantic artefact catalogue, promotes the use of SKOS controlled vocabularies and OWL ontologies gathered in thematic categories and groups to enhance semantic interoperability across Earth sciences disciplines (Pierkot et al. 2023). Beyond providing access to semantic artefacts, EarthPortal offers advanced tools to support third-party applications: the annotator , which suggests relevant terms based on textual or keyword input; the recommender , which identifies pertinent semantic artefacts corresponding to the provided input, and the mappings tool , which generates, stores, and visualizes relationships between different semantic artefacts. Through its REST API, EarthPortal facilitates seamless integration with external applications, enabling users to access semantic artefacts and leverage these tools directly within their workflows. A concrete application example with the semantic artefacts provided by the Theia Hub will serve to highlight EarthPortal's functionalities with its user interface and API. To make the both vocabularies developed by the land surfaces data and services hub Theia available and reusable in third-party applications such as the data catalogue, they have been integrated into the EarthPortal. However, with both Theia/Ozcar and Theia/Spatial thesaurus there might be some redundancies in their entry metadata. To facilitate their management, a third entry regroups both thesauri to centralize the metadata and visualize both at once. It will not however replace them, they will instead appear as “views”, a feature that allows to make EarthPortal entries appear as part of another entry. The demonstration will proceed by illustrating how the tool enhances the interoperability of data by integrating EarthPortal with EaSy Data, the French data repository for Earth and Environmental sciences. This connection enriches metadata with semantic annotations, improving discoverability and user experience. Additionally, we will explore recent advancements, such as the federation of EarthPortal with other OntoPortal Alliance platforms to facilitate discovery of semantic artefacts across domains and the future development of a generic connector for the GeoNetwork catalogue, which will allow EarthPortal's semantic artefacts and tools to be used directly, enhancing metadata editing, search and data processes
Developing a FAIR-Compliant Metadata Template for Digital Twins of Ecosystems: Insights from the LTER-LIFE Project
No full textUnderstanding and predicting the impact of environmental changes and external pressures on ecosystems is a critical challenge in ecology. The LTER-LIFE project, funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO), addresses this challenge by advancing data-driven modeling and simulation through the development of Digital Twins of ecosystems. This initiative develops an integrated infrastructure, including a Virtual Research Environment (VRE) and associated services like catalogues and repositories, which provide findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR) data, models, and tools. These components enable the creation of customized virtual laboratories to build Digital Twins of two iconic Dutch ecosystems: the LTSER Veluwe, a forest-rich ridge of hills with woodlands, heath, some small lakes and Europe's largest sand drifts, and the LTSER Dutch Wadden Sea Area, a large, temperate, relatively flat coastal wetland environment, with tidal channels, sea-grass meadows, mudflats, salt marshes, estuaries, beaches and dunes. The development of Digital Twins for ecosystems depends on the seamless integration and harmonization of diverse data sources, making it essential to ensure that data is as FAIR as possible, along with semantic mapping and crosswalk techniques to enable machine-actionable metadata. Our primary goal is to define the LTER-LIFE metadata schema and develop a dynamic inventory of diverse biotic and abiotic datasets while ensuring their metadata adheres to FAIR principles to support complex analyses, modeling, and simulations. This includes applying established (meta)data standards, aligning heterogeneous metadata with data models, incorporating standardized terms, controlled vocabularies, and ontologies, identifying thresholds for rich metadata based on feedback from the community and FAIR-Aware recommendations, establishing a common minimum set of metadata fields, and creating a specialized metadata template tailored to capturing FAIR data for Digital Twins of ecosystems. We employed the cross-walking method, leveraging insights from three projects —Ponderful, FAIR-EuMon, and FAIRsFAIR— selected for their shared focus on advancing FAIR principles and developing Digital Twins. This approach allowed us to define relevant metadata standards, encompassing both general and domain-specific fields. To refine and finalize the proposed metadata fields for the LTER-LIFE project, we conducted a half-day expert workshop involving data owners, data scientists, data stewards, ecologists, and researchers. The CEDAR repository model, an open-source platform for creating metadata templates in JSON format, which can be enriched with JSON-LD for enhanced machine-readability, was utilized to implement the LTER-LIFE metadata schema. Integration with BioPortal’s semantic artefacts and alignment with eLTER vocabularies (EnvThes) further enriched the schema with ontology-based concepts and domain-specific terminologies. The resulting template enables the implementation of the LTER-LIFE metadata schema as a CEDAR template. By adhering to the FAIR principles, the proposed framework enhances data accessibility, integration, and scalability, supporting terrestrial and marine ecosystem research. This effort lays the groundwork for sustainable and impactful Digital Twins applications, driving biodiversity and ecosystem science progress in an increasingly dynamic and interconnected world
Plumbing the Aquatic Conduit for Terrestrial Carbon: How far can we get with Hydrological Connectivity?
No full textThe water cycle is maddeningly difficult to pin down with the level of detail that is desired for resolving issues about the fate of pollutants, nutrient cycling and the global carbon balance, etc. “Connectivity” is increasingly talked of in hydrology and water resources management as a way to better conceptualize how different parts of the catchment dynamically interact to influence runoff generation and water quality. Runoff is a major C flux (aquatic conduit) that is particularly sensitive to changes in climate and hydrological regimes. This paper uses three dimensions of connectivity (vertical, latitudinal and longitudinal), to plumb the sources of carbon leaving a boreal landscape via the aquatic conduit. We used the distributed sources and age of aquatic C export to help assess the role and stability of a boreal landscape in the global C cycle. We combined hydrometric data and mass balances with isotopic tracers of water and carbon, including both radiogenic (14C) and stable carbon isotopes (δ13C) of DOC, CO2 and CH4 in catchment soils and the stream network to define the connectivity of riparian, peatland and upland sources to the carbon in runoff throughout the year. The radiocarbon age of DOC, CO2 and CH4 were predominantly modern, even in peat catotelm, but with localized excursions to millennial ages. The sources and processes that transport dissolved C species varied strongly with flow rates and the associated patterns of connectivity, mediated by seasonal variation that influence carbon cycling. The age of the C and other tracers exported to streams enabled us to “connect” the aquatic C exports to their origins in the mosaic of landscape elements. The effort also identified ways in which the concept of hydrological connectivity can be refined to strengthen the testing of biogeochemical hypotheses across temporal and spatial scales in specific landscapes
Luminescent Sensors for Continuous Monitoring of Important Analytes in Ecosystems
No full textLast decades have witness significant progress in optical sensing technology. Within this group of methods, luminescence-based sensing attracted much attention. Here an optically silent analyte interacts with the sensing material and reversibly changes its luminescent properties. Luminescent sensors benefit from highest flexibility of formats (planar sensors, microsensors, nanoparticles) and applications. A unique feature of such optical sensors (optodes) is their suitability for imaging of analyte distribution on surface (planar sensors) or in 3D (nanoparticles). Although optical sensors have been widely applied since several decades, for instance in (marine) biology, environmental monitoring etc., their even wider adoption is hindered by several factors. In order to achieve this purpose, both the sensing materials and the dedicated read-out equipment have to reach the needed robustness and fulfil the required characteristics, which may differ significantly from application to application. Furthermore, the number of analytes that can be reliably quantified by means of luminescence is currently rather limited. In this talk we will first highlight development of robust oxygen optodes for various applications (Wang and Wolfbeis 2014). These rely on dynamic quenching of luminescence of an indicator dye by molecular oxygen. Among numerous indicator dyes, platinum(II) and palladium(II) complexes with benzoporphyrins (Borisov et al. 2008) demonstrated an unmatched combination of desired photophysical properties: intense absorption in the blue and red parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, high brightness and photostability. They additionally benefit from straightforward synthesis and are now commercially available. To obtain an oxygen-sensing material, these indicator dyes are immobilized in suitable matrices, usually polymers like polystyrene. Importantly, high brightness of the indicators made it possible to minimize the thickness of the sensing layer and thus to significantly improve the response time of the resulting materials. Coating of the sensing material on a tapered glass fiber results in fast-responding sensors suitable for accessing O2 concentration multiple times in a second. These sensors are now commercially available and have been utilized in eddy covariance experiments in marine ecosystems (Merikhi et al. 2021, Berg et al. 2022).Moreover, we designed and optimized sensors for monitoring traces of oxygen in various environments. This was achieved via combination of oxygen indicators with long luminescence lifetime and highly oxygen-permeable polymeric matrices (Lehner et al. 2015). Although optical pH sensors offer a much narrower dynamic range compared to the glass electrode (typically max. 3 pH units), they are still of much interest for many applications, particularly for measurements in seawater. Numerous groups of fluorescent pH indicators have been investigated by us and other researchers over last decades (Steinegger et al. 2020). Aza-BODIPY dyes offer attractive photophysical properties (red light excitation and emission in far-red region, excellent photostability) along with the modular character that allows to easily tune the pKa value (and thus the dynamic range) of the indicator (Jokic et al. 2012, Strobl et al. 2015). Particularly, these dyes were optimized for optical measurement of pH in seawater (Staudinger et al. 2019). We showed that matrix, in which the pH indicator is imbedded, is also of highest importance for performance of the resulting sensing materials. For instance, although some of the sensors showed acceptably fast response at room temperature, they became virtually unsuitable at low temperatures (Staudinger et al. 2019).Monitoring of such important parameters like oxygen and pH is not possible without dedicated devices for the read-out of the sensing material. A submergible prototype equipped with optical feed-through, longer and battery has been developed (Staudinger et al. 2018), and utilized in proof-of-concept studies (profiling and long-term monitoring in seawater). The prototype was also successfully employed to detect potential leakage of carbon dioxide stored offshore via pH change. Further development in collaboration with an industrial partner, PyroScience GmbH (Aachen, Germany), resulted in a family of instruments and dedicated sensors for monitoring oxygen in pH in shallow water and in deep sea (up to 4000 m).The same sensing principle was utilized to sense other environmentally important analytes including ammonia (Strobl et al. 2017), carbon dioxide (Fritzsche et al. 2017) and ions like sodium (Müller et al. 2017). Together with collaboration partners we are currently working on development of compact and affordable system for robust mapping the above palette of analytes with help of planar optodes and water-dispersible particles