Past, present and future of EU priority habitats, example from the Alps

Europe's Alpine landscape has undergone significant modifications in the last decades due to socio economic changes. The Trentino region, Italy, has shown the same trend with a significant increase in forest coverage as a result of the abandonment of marginal agricultural sites. Due to the natural forest recolonization, open areas like meadows and pastures have shrunk in many mountain rural areas changing the ecological landscape mosaic. Priority habitats where a unique botanical biodiversity is preserved are among the open spaces that are endangered, together with the fauna that depends on open areas (capercaillie, black grouse...). Remote sensed data are crucial to detect, georeference and quantify the spatial environmental changes with the aid of GIS and machine learning algorithms. Combining remote sensed data with historical sources like cartography and forest management plans allows to rebuild past landscape and model future scenarios that can help to guide environmental management choices, for example highlighting the most endangered priority habitats or the effect of climate change Different examples of application of these techniques (developed using FOSS4G) applied at different spatial scales are presented, discussing how the changes affect the distribution of biodiversity, social and cultural dynamics, perception of the landscape, and ecosystem services.