Tiejun is an Associate Professor in Remote Sensing and Geospatial Ecology at the University of Twente. He holds a Ph.D. in Spatial Ecology from Wageningen University (2009) and an MSc in GIS and Remote Sensing from the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC, 2003). Before transitioning to academia, he spent 12 years in nature conservation and management, gaining hands-on experience that continues to inform his research and teaching.
At ITC, he teaches graduate courses, including Fundamentals of Statistics, Sampling, and Remote Sensing of Wetlands. He has led or participated in multiple research projects funded by the European Space Agency, the European Commission, and Microsoft. Throughout his career, he has supervised 19 Ph.D. students and 35 Masterâs students. He currently mentors six Ph.D. candidates. Beyond his role at Twente, he collaborates with researchers at the University of Oxford and the University of Hong Kong, co-supervising Ph.D. students and engaging in joint research projects. Recognized as an expert in his field, he is frequently invited to serve on doctoral examination committees in Belgium, Finland, Zimbabwe, and South Africa.
Organisations
Tiejun is an experienced researcher in remote sensing, geographic information science, artificial intelligence, and ecology, with notable contributions, particularly in biodiversity and ecological remote sensing. His work has advanced the use of remote sensing as a global biodiversity monitoring tool under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, providing critical scientific support for ecological conservation. He has published over 150 papers in top-tier journals, including Science, Nature, Nature Ecology & Evolution, and Nature Communications, with more than 8,400 citations and an H-index of 54. His research integrates multi-source remote sensing, AI, and species distribution models to map, monitor, and predict biodiversity patterns and wildlife habitats, making pioneering contributions to conservation science.
Looking ahead, he aims to further enhance the global biodiversity monitoring system by leveraging AI-driven remote sensing for automated wildlife detection, ecosystem and human activity monitoring, and global biodiversity data integration. With a particular focus on Africa and international collaboration, his future work seeks to advance biodiversity conservation through innovative AI applications and large-scale ecological assessments.
Publications
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2025
Bounding box versus point annotation: The impact on deep learning performance for animal detection in aerial images (2025)ISPRS journal of photogrammetry and remote sensing, 222, 99-111. Xu, Z., Wang, T., Skidmore, A. K., Lamprey, R. H. & Ngene, S.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2025.02.017eDNA biodiversity from space: predicting soil bacteria and fungi alpha diversity in forests using DESIS satellite remote sensing (2025)International journal of remote sensing. Skidmore, A. K., Abdullah, H., Siegenthaler, A., Wang, T., Adiningrat, D. P., Rousseau, M., Duan, Y., Torres Rodriguez, A., Heurich, M., Chariton, A. A., Darvishzadeh, R., Neinavaz, E. & de Groot, A.https://doi.org/10.1080/01431161.2025.2464958eDNA biodiversity from space: predicting soil bacteria and fungi alpha diversity in forests using DESIS satellite remote sensing (2025)International journal of remote sensing (E-pub ahead of print/First online). Skidmore, A. K., Abdullah, H., Siegenthaler, A., Wang, T., Adiningrat, D. P., Rousseau, M., Duan, Y., Torres Rodriguez, A., Heurich, M., Chariton, A. A., Darvishzadeh, R., Neinavaz, E. & de Groot, A.https://doi.org/10.1080/01431161.2025.2464958Fusing aerial photographs and airborne LiDAR data to improve the accuracy of detecting individual trees in urban and peri-urban areas (2025)Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, 105, 1-12. Article 128696. Xu, Y., Wang, T. & Skidmore, A. K.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2025.128696Leaf carbon-based constituents of temperate forest species retrieved using PROSPECT-PRO (2025)Agricultural and forest meteorology, 362. Article 110337. Torres Rodriguez, A., Darvishzadeh, R., Skidmore, A. K., Wang, T. & Schuur, B.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2024.110337Significant expansion of small water bodies in the Dongting Lake region following the impoundment of the Three Gorges Dam (2025)Journal of environmental management, 376, 1-13. Article 124443. Tian, M., Mao, J., Wang, K., Chen, Y., Gao, H. & Wang, T.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.124443Investigating LiDAR Metrics for Old-Growth Beech- and Spruce-Dominated Forest Identification in Central Europe (2025)Remote sensing, 17(2). Article 251. Adiningrat, D. P., Skidmore, A. K., Schlund, M., Wang, T., Abdullah, H. & Heurich, M.https://doi.org/10.3390/rs17020251Future extreme climate events threaten Alpine and Subalpine woody plants in China (2025)Earth's Future, 13(1), 1-18. Article e2024EF005147. Wu, Y., Shen, J., Deane, D., Yu, H., Yu, F., Wang, X., Cao, Z., Yu, R., Xiao, F., Wang, T. & Wu, Z.https://doi.org/10.1029/2024EF005147
2024
Ensemble species distribution models reveal Javan leopardâs preference for areas with high prey species diversity (2024)Global Ecology and Conservation, 56, 1-14. Article e03335. Ariyanto, A. C., Wang, T., Skidmore, A. K., Ario, A., Imron, M. & Wahyudi, H.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2024.e03335Field estimation of fallen deadwood volume under different management approaches in two European protected forested areas (2024)International Journal of Forestry Research, 97(5), 762-770. Article cpae013. Rousseau, M., Adiningrat, D. P., Skidmore, A. K., Siegenthaler, A., Wang, T. & Abdullah, H.https://doi.org/10.1093/forestry/cpae013Mitigating terrain shadows in very high-resolution satellite imagery for accurate evergreen conifer detection using bi-temporal image fusion (2024)International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation (JAG), 134. Article 104244. Zhu, X., Wang, T., Skidmore, A. K., Lee, S. & Duporge, I.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2024.104244Island biogeography theory and the habitat heterogeneity jointly explain global patterns of Rhododendron diversity (2024)Plant Diversity, 46(5), 565-574. Guan, Y., Wu, Y., Cao, Z., Wu, Z., Yu, F., Yu, H. & Wang, T.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pld.2024.03.007Mapping temperate old-growth forests in Central Europe using ALS and Sentinel-2A multispectral data (2024)Environmental monitoring and assessment, 196. Article 841. Adiningrat, D. P., Schlund, M., Skidmore, A. K., Abdullah, H., Wang, T. & Heurich, M.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-024-12993-5Range-wide camera traps reveal potential prey species for Javan leopards (2024)Global Ecology and Conservation, 53, 1-15. Article e03020. Ariyanto, A. C., Wang, T., Skidmore, A. K., Wibisono, H., Widodo, F., Firdaus, A., Wiharisno, Y., Koliq, N. & Murdyatmaka, W.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2024.e03020Elephants rest more when the poaching risk is high and do not recover the lost time within a diel cycle (2024)Global Ecology and Conservation, 51. Article e02911. IhwagiI, F., Skidmore, A. K., Bastille-Rosseau, G., Wang, T., Toxopeus, A. G. & Douglas-Hamilton, I.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2024.e02911Satellite hyperspectral imagery reveals scale dependence of functional diversity patterns in a Qinghai-Tibetan alpine meadow (2024)International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation (JAG), 129, 1-11. Article 103868. Zhang, Y.-W., Guo, Y., Feng, Y., Zhang, Z., Tang, R., Bai, Y.-H., Zhang, H.-T., Lin, Y.-W., Zhu, J., Wang, T. & Tang, Z.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2024.103868Retrieving leaf lignocellulose of conifer species using PROSPECT-PRO model (2024)[Contribution to conference › Abstract] 13th EARSeL Workshop on Imaging Spectroscopy 2024. Torres Rodriguez, A., Darvishzadeh, R., Skidmore, A. K. & Wang, T.Mapping soil microbiological biodiversity using simulated CHIME hyperspectral data (2024)[Contribution to conference › Abstract] 13th EARSeL Workshop on Imaging Spectroscopy 2024. Skidmore, A. K., Abdullah, H., Siegenthaler, A., Adiningrat, D. P., Duan, Y., Rousseau, M., Torres Rodriguez, A., Darvishzadeh, R., Wang, T. & de Groot, A.A review of deep learning techniques for detecting animals in aerial and satellite images (2024)International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation (JAG), 128, 1-17. Article 103732. Xu, Z., Wang, T., Skidmore, A. K. & Lamprey, R. H.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2024.103732A comparison of point and bounding box annotation methods to detect wild animals using remote sensing and deep learning (2024)[Contribution to conference › Abstract] EGU General Assembly 2024. Xu, Z., Wang, T., Skidmore, A. K. & Lamprey, R. H.https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-18868An enhanced algorithm for co-registering individual trees extracted from airborne LiDAR and aerial photographs (2024)[Contribution to conference › Abstract] EGU General Assembly 2024. Xu, Y., Wang, T. & Skidmore, A. K.https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-6725Satellite-based monitoring of the worldâs largest terrestrial mammal migration using deep learning (2024)[Contribution to conference › Abstract] EGU General Assembly 2024. Wu, Z., Wang, T., Zhang, C., Duporge, I., Gu, X., Hughey, L., Stabach, J., Skidmore, A. K., Hopcraft, G., Atkinson, P., McCauley, D., Lamprey, R. H., Ngene, S. & Gong, P.https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-10882A new multiangle method for estimating fractional biocrust coverage from Sentinel-2 data in arid areas (2024)IEEE transactions on geoscience and remote sensing, 62, 1-15. Article 4404015. Sun, H., Ma, X., Liu, Y., Zhou, G., Ding, J., Lu, L., Wang, T., Yang, Q., Shu, Q. & Zhang, F.https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2024.3361249Mapping off-road tracks and animal paths in protected areas using high-resolution GeoEye-1 panchromatic satellite imagery (2024)International journal of remote sensing, 45(16), 5425–5442. Chemura, A., Lu, S., Skidmore, A. K., Duporge, I., Lee, S., Yu, Z., Ngene, S. & Wang, T.https://doi.org/10.1080/01431161.2024.2377230
2023
Deep learning enables satellite-based monitoring of large populations of terrestrial mammals across heterogeneous landscape (2023)Nature communications, 14. Article 3072. Wu, Z., Zhang, C., Gu, X., Duporge, I., Hughey, L., Stabach, J., Skidmore, A. K., Hopcraft, G., Lee, S., Atkinson, P., McCauley, D., Lamprey, R., Ngene, S. M. & Wang, T.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-38901-yHabitat visibility affects the behavioral response of a large herbivore to human disturbance in forest landscapes (2023)Journal of environmental management, 348, 1-11. Article 119244. Zong, X., Wang, T., Skidmore, A. K. & Heurich, M.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.119244Integrated 1D, 2D, and 3D CNNs enable robust and efficient land cover classification from hyperspectral imagery (2023)Remote sensing, 15(19), 1-16. Article 4797. Liu, J., Wang, T., Skidmore, A. K., Sun, Y., Jia, P. & Zhang, K.https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15194797A novel approach to match individual trees between aerial photographs and airborne LiDAR data (2023)Remote sensing, 15(17), 1-24. Article 4128. Xu, Y., Wang, T., Skidmore, A. K. & Gara, T.https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15174128Advancing Animal Ecology through LiDAR-Based 3D Visibility Analysis (2023)[Thesis › PhD Thesis - Research UT, graduation UT]. University of Twente, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC). Zong, X.https://doi.org/10.3990/1.9789036556613Using open-source biodiversity data to predict present and future macrofungal diversity and distribution in Europe (2023)[Thesis › PhD Thesis - Research UT, graduation UT]. University of Twente, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC). Yu, H.https://doi.org/10.3990/1.9789036556637LiDAR reveals a preference for intermediate visibility by a forest-dwelling ungulate species (2023)Journal of animal ecology, 92(7), 1306-1319. Zong, X., Wang, T., Skidmore, A. K. & Heurich, M.https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13847A pixel dichotomy coupled linear kernel-driven model for estimating fractional vegetation cover in arid areas from high-spatial-resolution images (2023)IEEE transactions on geoscience and remote sensing, 61, 1-15. Article 4406015. Ma, X., Ding, J., Wang, T., Lu, L., Sun, H., Zhang, F., Chen, X. & Nurmemet, I.https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2023.3289093How future climate and tree distribution changes shape the biodiversity of macrofungi across Europe (2023)Diversity and distributions, 29(5), 666-682. Yu, H., Wang, T., Skidmore, A. K., Heurich, M. & Bässler, C.https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13688An improved area-based approach for estimating plot-level tree DBH from airborne LiDAR data (2023)Forest Ecosystems, 10. Article 100089. Zhang, Z., Wang, T., Skidmore, A. K., Cao, F., She, G. & Cao, L.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fecs.2023.100089
2022
A satellite perspective on the movement decisions of African elephants in relation to nomadic pastoralists (2022)Remote sensing in ecology and conservation, 8(6), 841-854. Duporge, I., Finerty, G. E., Ihwagi, F., Lee, S., Wathika, J., Wu, Z., Macdonald, D. W. & Wang, T.https://doi.org/10.1002/rse2.285Mapping the relative abundance of soil microbiome biodiversity from eDNA and remote sensing (2022)Science of Remote Sensing, 6. Article 100065. Skidmore, A. K., Siegenthaler, A., Wang, T., Darvishzadeh, R., Zhu, X., Chariton, A. & de Groot, G. A.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.srs.2022.100065Linking the past and present to predict the distribution of Asian crested ibis (Nipponia nippon) under global changes (2022)Integrative Zoology, 17(6), 1095-1105. Yu, F., Sun, Y., Wang, T., Skidmore, A. K., Ding, C. & Ye, X.https://doi.org/10.1111/1749-4877.12581LiDAR reveals a preference for intermediate visibility by a forest-dwelling ungulate species: Code and LiDAR data (2022)[Dataset Types › Dataset]. Zenodo. Zong, X., Wang, T., Skidmore, A. & Heurich, M.https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.tx95x6b21LiDAR reveals a preference for intermediate visibility by a forest-dwelling ungulate species: Deer locational data (2022)[Dataset Types › Dataset]. Zenodo. Zong, X., Wang, T., Skidmore, A. & Heurich, M.https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.15dv41p1d50 Years of cumulative open-source data confirm stable and robust biodiversity distribution patterns for macrofungi (2022)Journal of Fungi, 8(9), 1-16. Article 981. Yu, H., Wang, T., Skidmore, A. K., Heurich, M. & Bässler, C.https://doi.org/10.3390/jof8090981Characterizing old-growth forests from multisource remote sensing (2022)[Contribution to conference › Poster] ForestSAT 2022. Adiningrat, D. P., Skidmore, A. K., Schlund, M. & Wang, T.Estimating community-level plant functional traits in a species-rich alpine meadow using UAV image spectroscopy (2022)Remote sensing, 14(14), 1-14. Article 3399. Zhang, Y.-W., Wang, T., Guo, Y., Skidmore, A. K., Zhang, Z., Tang, R., Song, S. & Tang, Z.https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14143399Developing a 3D clumping index model to improve optical measurement accuracy of crop leaf area index (2022)Field Crops Research, 275, 1-16. Article 108361. Ma, X., Wang, T., Lu, L., Huang, H., Ding, J. & Zhang, F.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.2021.108361
2021
Understanding the impact of vertical canopy position on leaf spectra and traits in an evergreen broadleaved forest (2021)Remote sensing, 13(24). Article 5057. Yu, F., Gara, T., Lian, J., Ye, W., Shen, J., Wang, T., Wu, Z. & Wang, J.https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13245057A novel and efficient method for woodâleaf separation from terrestrial laser scanning point clouds at the forest plot level (2021)Methods in ecology and evolution, 12(12), 2473-2486. Wan, P., Shao, J., Jin, S., Wang, T., Yang, S., Yan, G. & Zhang, W.https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.13715Author Correction: Priority list of biodiversity metrics to observe from space (Nature Ecology & Evolution, (2021), 5, 7, (896-906), 10.1038/s41559-021-01451-x) (2021)Nature Ecology & Evolution, 5(12), 1639. Skidmore, A. K., Coops, N. C., Neinavaz, E., Ali, A., Schaepman, M. E., Paganini, M., Kissling, W. D., Vihervaara, P., Darvishzadeh, R., Feilhauer, H., Fernandez, M., Fernández, N., Gorelick, N., Geijzendorffer, I., Heiden, U., Heurich, M., Hobern, D., Holzwarth, S., Muller-Karger, F. E., ⌠Wingate, V.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01527-8Estimating fine-scale visibility in a temperate forest landscape using airborne laser scanning (2021)International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation (JAG), 103, 1-11. Article 102478. Zong, X., Wang, T., Skidmore, A. K. & Heurich, M.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2021.102478A laboratory for conceiving Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs): The âData Pool Initiative for the Bohemian Forest Ecosystemâ (2021)Methods in ecology and evolution, 12(11), 2073-2083. Latifi, H., Holzwarth, S., Skidmore, A. K., Brůna, J., Červenka, J., Darvishzadeh, R., Hais, M., Heiden, U., Homolova, L. & Wang, T.https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.13695Determination of optimal flight altitude to minimise acoustic drone disturbance to wildlife using species audiograms (2021)Methods in ecology and evolution, 12(11), 2196-2207. Duporge, I., Spiegel, M. P., Thomson, E. R., Chapman, T., Lamberth, C., Pond, C., Macdonald, D. W., Wang, T. & Klinck, H.https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.13691The critical role of tree species and human disturbance in determining the macrofungal diversity in Europe (2021)Global ecology and biogeography, 30(10), 2084-2100. Yu, H., Wang, T., Skidmore, A., Heurich, M. & Bässler, C.https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13372Using veryâhighâresolution satellite imagery and deep learning to detect and count African elephants in heterogeneous landscapes (2021)Remote sensing in ecology and conservation, 7(3), 369-381. Duporge, I., Isupova, O., Macdonald, D., Reece, S. & Wang, T.https://doi.org/10.1002/rse2.195An old-growth subtropical evergreen broadleaved forest suffered more damage from Typhoon Mangkhut than an adjacent secondary forest (2021)Forest ecology and management, 496, 1-8. Article 119433. Ni, Y., Wang, T., Cao, H., Li, Y., Bin, Y., Zhang, R., Wang, Y., Lian, J. & Ye, W.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2021.119433Comparative evaluation of algorithms for leaf area index estimation from digital hemispherical photography through virtual forests (2021)Remote sensing, 13(16). Article 3325. Liu, J., Li, L., Akerblom, M., Wang, T., Skidmore, A., Zhu, X. & Heurich, M.https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13163325Author Correction: Priority list of biodiversity metrics to observe from space (Nature Ecology & Evolution, (2021), 5, 7, (896-906), 10.1038/s41559-021-01451-x) (2021)Nature Ecology & Evolution, 5(7), 1046. Skidmore, A. K., Coops, N. C., Neinavaz, E., Ali, A., Schaepman, M. E., Paganini, M., Kissling, W. D., Vihervaara, P., Darvishzadeh, R., Feilhauer, H., Fernandez, M., Fernández, N., Gorelick, N., Geijzendorffer, I., Heiden, U., Heurich, M., Hobern, D., Holzwarth, S., Muller-Karger, F. E., ⌠Wingate, V.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01492-2Low-elevation endemic Rhododendrons in China are highly vulnerable to climate and land use change (2021)Ecological indicators, 126, 1-18. Article 107699. Yu, F., Wu, Z., Shen, J., Huang, J., Groen, T. A., Skidmore, A. K., Ma, K. & Wang, T.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.107699Priority list of biodiversity metrics to observe from space (2021)Nature Ecology & Evolution, 5(7), 896-906. Skidmore, A. K., Coops, N. C., Neinavaz, E., Ali, A., Schaepman, M. E., Paganini, M., Kissling, W. D., Vihervaara, P., Darvishzadeh, R., Feilhauer, H., Fernandez, M., Fernández, N., Gorelick, N., Geizendorffer, I., Heiden, U., Heurich, M., Hobern, D., Holzwarth, S., Muller-karger, F. E., ⌠Wingate, V.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01451-xAfrican elephant (Loxodonta africana) select less fragmented landscapes to connect core habitats in humanâdominated landscapes (2021)African journal of ecology, 59(2), 370-377. Article 12839. Gara, T., Wang, T., Dube, T., Ngene, S. M. & Mpakairi, K.https://doi.org/10.1111/aje.12839Mapping individual silver fir trees using hyperspectral and LiDAR data in a Central European mixed forest (2021)International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation (JAG), 98, 1-12. Article 102311. Shi, Y., Wang, T., Skidmore, A. K., Holzwarth, S., Heiden, U. & Heurich, M.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2021.102311The impact of voxel size, forest type, and understory cover on visibility estimation in forests using terrestrial laser scanning (2021)GIScience & remote sensing, 58(3), 323-339. Zong, X., Wang, T., Skidmore, A. K. & Heurich, M.https://doi.org/10.1080/15481603.2021.1873588
2020
Evaluation of a new 18-year MODIS-derived surface water fraction dataset for constructing Mediterranean wetland open surface water dynamics (2020)Journal of hydrology, 587, 1-14. Article 124956. Li, L., Vrieling, A., Skidmore, A. K. & Wang, T.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2020.124956RS-enabled EBV Road Map (2020)[Contribution to conference › Abstract] GEOBON Open Science Conference & All Hands Meeting 2020. Roeoesli, C., Harfoot, M., Wingate, V., Marc, P., Guaras, D. M., Marshall, D., Heiden, U., Skidmore, A. K., Ali, A. M., Darvishzadeh, R., Wang, T. & Mücher, S.https://conf2020.geobon.org/pdf/book-of-abstracts_geobon.pdfThe spatial distribution of illegal hunting of terrestrial mammals in Sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic map (2020)Environmental Evidence, 9(1), 1. Article 15. Duporge, I., Hodgetts, T., Wang, T. & Macdonald, D.https://doi.org/10.1186/s13750-020-00195-8A refined four-stream radiative transfer model for row-planted crops (2020)Remote sensing, 12(8). Article 1290. Ma, X., Wang, T. & Lu, L.https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12081290
Research profiles
Courses academic year 2024/2025
Courses in the current academic year are added at the moment they are finalised in the Osiris system. Therefore it is possible that the list is not yet complete for the whole academic year.
Courses academic year 2023/2024
Address
University of Twente
Langezijds (building no. 19), room 1128
Hallenweg 8
7522 NH Enschede
Netherlands
University of Twente
Langezijds 1128
P.O. Box 217
7500 AE Enschede
Netherlands
Organisations
Additional contact information
https://research.utwente.nl/en/persons/tiejun-wang
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