Opportunities and challenges for monitoring terrestrial biodiversity in the robotics age

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. and Davies, Zoe G. (2025) Opportunities and challenges for monitoring terrestrial biodiversity in the robotics age. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 9 (6). pp. 1031-1042. ISSN 2397-334X

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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.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Acknowledgements; We thank all questionnaire and workshop participants. In particular, we remember Professor Ibrahim B. Yakubu, who played a full part in the questionnaire and workshop stages but sadly passed away midway through the evolution of this manuscript. Data availability statement: The anonymized dataset generated and analysed during this study is available via the University of Kent Data Repository at https://doi.org/10.22024/UniKent/01.01.546. Funding information: This work was funded by the EPSRC UK-RAS Network. D.J.I. is funded by a UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellowship (grant ref: MR/W006316/1), and Z.G.D. and J.C.F. were supported by Research England's 'Expanding Excellence in England' fund. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	ecology, evolution, behavior and systematics,ecology,sdg 15 - life on land ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1100/1105
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Biological Sciences Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences University of East Anglia Research Groups/Centres > Theme - ClimateUEA
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Organisms and the Environment Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Environmental Biology
Related URLs:	http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	10 Jun 2025 11:30
Last Modified:	16 Jun 2025 08:33
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/99426
DOI:	10.1038/s41559-025-02704-9

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