ecoNET Lab – Digital Solutions for Ecosystems, moving Climate Resilience Forward
Overview
EcoNET Lab, led by Dr. Mónica Herrero Huerta at the Desertification Research Centre (CIDE, CSIC-UV-GVA), pioneers the integration of geospatial technologies, artificial intelligence (AI), and ecological science to develop the next generation of digital solutions for ecosystem management.
Our mission is to build AI-based digital models that:
- Quantify ecosystem services and their role in climate resilience.
- Predict and mitigate risks from climate-induced disturbances such as wildfires, floods, and droughts.
- Support adaptive governance for ecosystem management through data-driven, proactive responses to environmental change.
At the core of our work are 5D Digital Twins of ecosystems—dynamic, multi-source, time-evolving representations that combine:
- Satellite data (including LiDAR, SAR),
- Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) (visible, multispectral, hyperspectral, NIR, GPR and LiDAR)
- IoT sensory and handheld LiDAR.
These digital twins enable descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive simulations to support nature-based solutions (NBS), reduce disaster risk, and protect biodiversity.
Core Research Themes
- Ecosystem Digital Twins: From 3D structure to 5D simulations: modeling dynamic ecosystem change with integrated AI-driven decision layers for time-evolving ecological processes.
- AI for Climate-Smart Ecosystems: Developing interpretable, data-efficient models using multi-modal representation learning to capture ecosystem change, connectivity, and resilience.
- Ecosystem Service Valuation: Designing digital tools to assess the ecological and economic value of services, and evaluate the effectiveness of restoration and conservation actions under climate stress.
- Prescriptive Ecosystem Management: Creating actionable, adaptive decision-support tools enhanced by augmented reality (AR) and stakeholder co-design for real-time, site-specific ecosystem interventions.
Scientific Vision
EcoNET Lab is forging a new frontier at the intersection of environmental science, computer science, and remote sensing engineering. Through international collaboration, open science, and digital innovation, we empower researchers, practitioners, and decision-makers to build climate-resilient ecosystems with scalable, replicable, and science-based tools.
We welcome collaborations across disciplines—ecologists, computer scientists, engineers, geographers, and others—to advance the computational ecology revolution and shape sustainable ecosystems in a changing climate.
Who we are
Led by Dr. Mónica Herrero Huerta at the Desertification Research Centre (CIDE, CSIC-UV-GVA), ecoNET Lab integrates geospatial technologies, artificial intelligence, and ecological science to develop the next generation of digital solutions for ecosystem management.
Our mission
To create AI-based digital models that:
- Quantify ecosystem services and their role in climate resilience
- Predict and mitigate climate-induced risks: wildfires, floods, droughts
- Support adaptive ecosystem governance and nature-based solutions (NBS)
What we do
At the heart of ecoNET Lab are 5D Digital Twins of ecosystems—dynamic, multi-source, time-evolving models using data from:
- Satellites (including LiDAR, SAR)
- UAS (visible, multispectral, hyperspectral, NIR, GPR and LiDAR)
- IoT sensors and handheld LiDAR
These twins enable descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive simulations to reduce climate risks and support biodiversity.
Core research themes
- Ecosystem Digital Twins: From 3D mapping to 5D simulations with AI-driven decision layers
- AI for Climate-Smart Ecosystems: Interpretable, data-efficient models for ecosystem change & resilience
- Ecosystem Service Valuation: Tools to assess ecological and economic impacts of restoration
- Prescriptive Ecosystem Management: Decision support enhanced by AR & stakeholder co-design
Our vision
We are building a new frontier at the intersection of computer science, ecology, and remote sensing. Through open science and global collaboration, we deliver scalable, replicable, and actionable tools for building climate-resilient ecosystems.
Join us
We collaborate across disciplines— physicists and mathematicians, ecologists, computer scientists, engineers, geographers, and decision-makers—to advance the computational ecology revolution.
📩 Contact: monica.herrero@csic.es
(PDF) RESEARCH STATEMENT: 4D Modeling of Smart Forest - PhD. Monica Herrero-Huerta
