Opportunities and challenges for monitoring terrestrial biodiversity in the robotics age.
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s41559-025-02704-9.pdf
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6.17 MB
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Resource type
Journal article
Creator (person)
Pringle, Stephen
Dallimer, Martin
Goddard, Mark A.
Le Goff, Léni K.
Hart, Emma
Langdale, Simon J.
Fisher, Jessica C.
Abad, Sara-Adela
Ancrenaz, Marc
Angeoletto, Fabio
Auat Cheein, Fernando
Austen, Gail E.
Bailey, Joseph J.
Baldock, Katherine C. R.
Banin, Lindsay F.
Banks-Leite, Cristina
Barau, Aliyu S.
Bashyal, Reshu
Bates, Adam J.
Bicknell, Jake E.
Bielby, Jon
Bosilj, Petra
Bush, Emma R.
Butler, Simon J.
Carpenter, Dan
Clements, Christopher F.
Cully, Antoine
Davies, Kendi F.
Deere, Nicolas J.
Dodd, Michael
Drinkwater, Rosie
Driscoll, Don A.
Dutilleux, Guillaume
Dyrmann, Mads
Edwards, David P.
Farhadinia, Mohammad S.
Faruk, Aisyah
Field, Richard
Fletcher, Robert J.
Foster, Chris W.
Fox, Richard
Francksen, Richard M.
Franco, Aldina M. A.
Gainsbury, Alison M.
Gardner, Charlie J.
Giorgi, Ioanna
Griffiths, Richard A.
Hamaza, Salua
Hanheide, Marc
Hayward, Matt W.
Hedblom, Marcus
Helgason, Thorunn
Heon, Sui P.
Hughes, Kevin A.
Hunt, Edmund R.
Ingram, Daniel J.
Jackson-Mills, George
Jowett, Kelly
Keitt, Timothy H.
Kloepper, Laura N.
Kramer-Schadt, Stephanie
Labisko, Jim
Labrosse, Frédéric
Lawson, Jenna
Lecomte, Nicolas
de Lima, Ricardo F.
Littlewood, Nick A.
Marshall, Harry H.
Masala, Giovanni L.
Maskell, Lindsay C.
Matechou, Eleni
Mazzolai, Barbara
McConnell, Alistair
Melbourne, Brett A.
Miriyev, Aslan
Nana, Eric Djomo
Ossola, Alessandro
Papworth, Sarah
Parr, Catherine L.
Payo-Payo, Ana
Perry, Gad
Pettorelli, Nathalie
Pillay, Rajeev
Potts, Simon G.
Prendergast-Miller, Miranda T.
Qie, Lan
Rolley-Parnell, Persie
Rossiter, Stephen J.
Rowcliffe, Marcus
Rumble, Heather
Sadler, Jon P.
Sandom, Christopher J.
Sanyal, Asiem
Schrodt, Franziska
Sethi, Sarab S.
Shabrani, Adi
Siddall, Robert
Smith, Simón C.
Snep, Robbert P. H.
Soulsbury, Carl D.
Stanley, Margaret C.
Stephens, Philip A.
Stephenson, P. J.
Struebig, Matthew J.
Studley, Matthew
Svátek, Martin
Tang, Gilbert
Taylor, Nicholas K.
Umbers, Kate D. L.
Ward, Robert J.
White, Patrick J. C.
Whittingham, Mark J.
Wich, Serge
Williams, Christopher D.
Yakubu, Ibrahim B.
Yoh, Natalie
Zaidi, Syed A. R.
Zmarz, Anna
Zwerts, Joeri A.
Davies, Zoe G.
Date published
May 22, 2025
Abstract
With biodiversity loss escalating globally, a step change is needed in our capacity to accurately monitor species populations across ecosystems. Robotic and autonomous systems (RAS) offer technological solutions that may substantially advance terrestrial biodiversity monitoring, but this potential is yet to be considered systematically. We used a modified Delphi technique to synthesize knowledge from 98 biodiversity experts and 31 RAS experts, who identified the major methodological barriers that currently hinder monitoring, and explored the opportunities and challenges that RAS offer in overcoming these barriers. Biodiversity experts identified four barrier categories: site access, species and individual identification, data handling and storage, and power and network availability. Robotics experts highlighted technologies that could overcome these barriers and identified the developments needed to facilitate RAS-based autonomous biodiversity monitoring. Some existing RAS could be optimized relatively easily to survey species but would require development to be suitable for monitoring of more ‘difficult’ taxa and robust enough to work under uncontrolled conditions within ecosystems. Other nascent technologies (for instance, new sensors and biodegradable robots) need accelerated research. Overall, it was felt that RAS could lead to major progress in monitoring of terrestrial biodiversity by supplementing rather than supplanting existing methods. Transdisciplinarity needs to be fostered between biodiversity and RAS experts so that future ideas and technologies can be codeveloped effectively.
Project(s)
Priority 5: Enhanced Partnerships
Funder
| Funder name | Awards |
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council UK-RAS Network, United Kingdom | |
Research England, United Kingdom | ‘Expanding Excellence in England’ fund |
UK Research and Innovation, United Kingdom | Future Leaders Fellowship (grant ref: MR/W006316/1) |
Journal title
Nature Ecology & Evolution
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Place of publication
Berlin/Heidelberg, Germany
eISSN
2397-334X
Date accepted
April 7, 2025
Official URL
Rights statement
In Copyright
Additional information
IF = 14.1 (2023)