Opportunities and challenges for monitoring terrestrial biodiversity in the robotics age

Pringle, Stephen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9207-6827; Dallimer, Martin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8120-3309; Goddard, Mark A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2283-6752; Le Goff, Léni K.; Hart, Emma ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5405-4413; Langdale, Simon J.; Fisher, Jessica C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1435-9247; Abad, Sara-Adela ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3471-6942; Ancrenaz, Marc; Angeoletto, Fabio ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3084-3928; Auat Cheein, Fernando; Austen, Gail E. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6005-4869; Bailey, Joseph J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9526-7095; Baldock, Katherine C.R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6849-8747; Banin, Lindsay F. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1168-3914; Banks-Leite, Cristina ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0091-2857; Barau, Aliyu S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1259-3929; Bashyal, Reshu ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7341-9767; Bates, Adam J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7854-5260; Bicknell, Jake E. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6831-627X; Bielby, Jon ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4586-0429; Bosilj, Petra; Bush, Emma R.; Butler, Simon J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5111-5639; Carpenter, Dan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-5615-6086; Clements, Christopher F. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5677-5401; Cully, Antoine; Davies, Kendi F.; Deere, Nicolas J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1299-2126; Dodd, Michael ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2741-7810; Drinkwater, Rosie ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6892-1664; Driscoll, Don A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1560-5235; Dutilleux, Guillaume ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3523-0589; Dyrmann, Mads; Edwards, David P. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8562-3853; Farhadinia, Mohammad S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5385-6254; Faruk, Aisyah; Field, Richard ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2613-2688; Fletcher, Robert J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1717-5707; Foster, Chris W. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7635-6797; Fox, Richard ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6992-3522; Francksen, Richard M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1180-726X; Franco, Aldina M.A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6055-7378; Gainsbury, Alison M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2828-7301; Gardner, Charlie J.; Giorgi, Ioanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9583-6959; Griffiths, Richard A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5533-1013; Hamaza, Salua ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5261-2680; Hanheide, Marc ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7728-1849; Hayward, Matt W.; Hedblom, Marcus ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1594-8665; Helgason, Thorunn ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3639-1499; Heon, Sui P.; Hughes, Kevin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2701-726X; Hunt, Edmund R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9647-124X; Ingram, Daniel J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5843-220X; Jackson-Mills, George; Jowett, Kelly; Keitt, Timothy H. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4587-1083; Kloepper, Laura N. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4785-5279; Kramer-Schadt, Stephanie ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9269-4446; Labisko, Jim ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9324-5899; Labrosse, Frédéric; Lawson, Jenna; Lecomte, Nicolas ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8473-5375; de Lima, Ricardo F. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0184-3945; Littlewood, Nick A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4461-8833; Marshall, Harry H. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2120-243X; Masala, Giovanni L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6734-9424; Maskell, Lindsay C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4006-7755; Matechou, Eleni ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3626-844X; Mazzolai, Barbara ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0722-8350; McConnell, Alistair ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3168-1323; Melbourne, Brett A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8843-4131; Miriyev, Aslan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2110-2770; Nana, Eric Djomo; Ossola, Alessandro ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0507-6026; Papworth, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8746-1912; Parr, Catherine L.; Payo-Payo, Ana; Perry, Gad ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0245-2513; Pettorelli, Nathalie ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1594-6208; Pillay, Rajeev ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7116-6855; Potts, Simon G. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2045-980X; Prendergast-Miller, Miranda T.; Qie, Lan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7309-7523; Rolley-Parnell, Persie; Rossiter, Stephen J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3881-4515; Rowcliffe, Marcus; Rumble, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2510-0166; Sadler, Jon P. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0443-4458; Sandom, Christopher J.; Sanyal, Asiem ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7523-7916; Schrodt, Franziska; Sethi, Sarab S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5939-0432; Shabrani, Adi; Siddall, Robert; Smith, Simón C.; Snep, Robbert P.H. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7130-9254; Soulsbury, Carl D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8808-5210; Stanley, Margaret C.; Stephens, Philip A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5849-788X; Stephenson, P.J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0087-466X; Struebig, Matthew J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2058-8502; Studley, Matthew; Svátek, Martin; Tang, Gilbert; Taylor, Nicholas K. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1268-9469; Umbers, Kate D.L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9375-4527; Ward, Robert J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2343-8473; White, Patrick J.C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9349-8447; Whittingham, Mark J.; Wich, Serge ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3954-5174; Williams, Christopher D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0528-3436; Yakubu, Ibrahim B.; Yoh, Natalie ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6171-3800; Zaidi, Syed A.R.; Zmarz, Anna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5846-4017; Zwerts, Joeri A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3841-6389; Davies, Zoe G. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0767-1467. 2025 Opportunities and challenges for monitoring terrestrial biodiversity in the robotics age. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 9. 1031-1042. 10.1038/s41559-025-02704-9

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Abstract/Summary

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.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.1038/s41559-025-02704-9
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:	Biodiversity and Land Use (2025-) Land-Atmosphere Interactions (2025-)
ISSN:	2397-334X
Additional Information:	Open Access paper - full text available via Official URL link.
Additional Keywords:	conservation biology, ecosystem ecology
NORA Subject Terms:	Ecology and Environment Electronics, Engineering and Technology
Related URLs:	Dataset
Date made live:	23 May 2025 14:57 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/539493

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