BibTex format
@article{Pringle:2025:10.1038/s41559-025-02704-9,
author = {Pringle, S and Dallimer, M and Goddard, MA and Le, Goff LK and Hart, E and Langdale, SJ and Fisher, JC and Abad, S-A and Ancrenaz, M and Angeoletto, F and Auat, Cheein F and Austen, GE and Bailey, JJ and Baldock, KCR and Banin, LF and Banks-Leite, C and Barau, AS and Bashyal, R and Bates, AJ and Bicknell, JE and Bielby, J and Bosilj, P and Bush, ER and Butler, SJ and Carpenter, D and Clements, CF and Cully, A and Davies, KF and Deere, NJ and Dodd, M and Drinkwater, R and Driscoll, DA and Dutilleux, G and Dyrmann, M and Edwards, DP and Farhadinia, MS and Faruk, A and Field, R and Fletcher, RJ and Foster, CW and Fox, R and Francksen, RM and Franco, AMA and Gainsbury, AM and Gardner, CJ and Giorgi, I and Griffiths, RA and Hamaza, S and Hanheide, M and Hayward, MW and Hedblom, M and Helgason, T and Heon, SP and Hughes, KA and Hunt, ER and Ingram, DJ and Jackson-Mills, G and Jowett, K and Keitt, TH and Kloepper, LN and Kramer-Schadt, S and Labisko, J and Labrosse, F and Lawson, J and Lecomt},
doi = {10.1038/s41559-025-02704-9},
journal = {Nature Ecology & Evolution},
title = {Opportunities and challenges for monitoring terrestrial biodiversity in the robotics age},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02704-9},
year = {2025}
}
RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)
TY - JOUR
AB - 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.
AU - Pringle,S
AU - Dallimer,M
AU - Goddard,MA
AU - Le,Goff LK
AU - Hart,E
AU - Langdale,SJ
AU - Fisher,JC
AU - Abad,S-A
AU - Ancrenaz,M
AU - Angeoletto,F
AU - Auat,Cheein F
AU - Austen,GE
AU - Bailey,JJ
AU - Baldock,KCR
AU - Banin,LF
AU - Banks-Leite,C
AU - Barau,AS
AU - Bashyal,R
AU - Bates,AJ
AU - Bicknell,JE
AU - Bielby,J
AU - Bosilj,P
AU - Bush,ER
AU - Butler,SJ
AU - Carpenter,D
AU - Clements,CF
AU - Cully,A
AU - Davies,KF
AU - Deere,NJ
AU - Dodd,M
AU - Drinkwater,R
AU - Driscoll,DA
AU - Dutilleux,G
AU - Dyrmann,M
AU - Edwards,DP
AU - Farhadinia,MS
AU - Faruk,A
AU - Field,R
AU - Fletcher,RJ
AU - Foster,CW
AU - Fox,R
AU - Francksen,RM
AU - Franco,AMA
AU - Gainsbury,AM
AU - Gardner,CJ
AU - Giorgi,I
AU - Griffiths,RA
AU - Hamaza,S
AU - Hanheide,M
AU - Hayward,MW
AU - Hedblom,M
AU - Helgason,T
AU - Heon,SP
AU - Hughes,KA
AU - Hunt,ER
AU - Ingram,DJ
AU - Jackson-Mills,G
AU - Jowett,K
AU - Keitt,TH
AU - Kloepper,LN
AU - Kramer-Schadt,S
AU - Labisko,J
AU - Labrosse,F
AU - Lawson,J
AU - Lecomte,N
AU - de,Lima RF
AU - Littlewood,NA
AU - Marshall,HH
AU - Masala,GL
AU - Maskell,LC
AU - Matechou,E
AU - Mazzolai,B
AU - McConnell,A
AU - Melbourne,BA
AU - Miriyev,A
AU - Nana,ED
AU - Ossola,A
AU - Papworth,S
AU - Parr,CL
AU - Payo-Payo,A
AU - Perry,G
AU - Pettorelli,N
AU - Pillay,R
AU - Potts,SG
AU - Prendergast-Miller,MT
AU - Qie,L
AU - Rolley-Parnell,P
AU - Rossiter,SJ
AU - Rowcliffe,M
AU - Rumble,H
AU - Sadler,JP
AU - Sandom,CJ
AU - Sanyal,A
AU - Schrodt,F
AU - Sethi,SS
AU - Shabrani,A
AU - Siddall,R
AU - Smith,SC
AU - Snep,RPH
AU - Soulsbury,CD
AU - Stanley,MC
AU - Stephens,PA
AU - Stephenson,PJ
AU - Struebig,MJ
AU - Studley,M
AU - Svátek,M
AU - Tang,G
AU - Taylor,NK
AU - Umbers,KDL
AU - Ward,RJ
AU - White,PJC
AU - Whittingham,MJ
AU - Wich,S
AU - Williams,CD
AU - Yakubu,IB
AU - Yoh,N
AU - Zaidi,SAR
AU - Zmarz,A
AU - Zwerts,JA
AU - Davies,ZG
DO - 10.1038/s41559-025-02704-9
PY - 2025///
SN - 2397-334X
TI - Opportunities and challenges for monitoring terrestrial biodiversity in the robotics age
T2 - Nature Ecology & Evolution
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02704-9
UR - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02704-9
ER -