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Climate change is destroying more and more habitats and species extinction is increasing. This jeopardises our entire ecosystem and its performance. To counteract this, we need data on species populations and their changes. However, it has not yet been possible to combine the level of detail with the temporal and spatial scope of data collection.

A research team led by LOEWE-Natur 4.0 scientist Dr Dirk Zeuss has now developed a new concept for networked environmental monitoring that allows large natural areas to be mapped over a long period of time without any loss of detail.

"Our networked sensor system consists of three closely interlinked main components," explains Dirk Zeuss, "namely sensors, data transmission and data storage." Animals and plants are not just objects of observation, but part of the infrastructure. The scientists attached miniature cameras and tracking devices to birds and bats as well as to trees, plants, remote-controlled aircraft or robots, which constantly provide data about their habitat and behaviour. The research group's environmental monitoring was tested in the university forest "Marburg Open Forest".

"Networked sensor systems have the potential to close the monitoring gap between observations in the field and area-wide remote sensing," explains Zeuss. "They provide practitioners with a dense observation network that maps biodiversity almost in real time, which would not be possible with field observations alone.As a result, Nature 4.0 shows that environmental monitoring is possible with low-cost and modular sensor components."

The results of the forty-strong research team were published in the journal "Global Change Biology".