The great number of protected areas that demand focus (more than 250,000 sites worldwide) will require a change from expert-based to automated biodiversity monitoring systems. Through the use of a research site in Carinthia, Austria, BioMONITec will serve as an instrumental component to test state-of-the-art and upcoming autonomous or semi-autonomous monitoring technologies.

New technologies are making the task easier to identify species composition in a given environment, aiding in the global challenge to preserve biodiversity. The three-year BioMONITec project will create a framework upon which all conservationists, researchers, and entrepreneurs may select the appropriate tools to document species diversity over time. An interactive decision tree will be generated to help stakeholders select appropriate techniques for the target organism or environment. An authoritative monitoring global guideline will be published to encourage consistent use of methodologies across sites, helping to harmonise data sets and allowing comparison of management techniques in different environments.

Findings from BioMONITec will be used to educate and train future generations of conservationists through academic programmes. Results will inform policy-makers of effective tools to document biodiversity, promoting their adoption on a wide scale.