Biodiversity Monitoring Week 2026

In the beginning of May, I had the opportunity to attend the 2026 edition of BioMonWeek in Montpellier, France, bringing together researchers, research infrastructures, and policy-oriented initiatives working on biodiversity monitoring across Europe and beyond. The event highlighted how rapidly the field is evolving through the integration of long-term ecological research, sensor networks, citizen science, AI-assisted monitoring, and FAIR data infrastructures. The conference showcased a remarkable diversity of monitoring approaches and technologies. Posters and talks explored topics such as acoustic monitoring combined with machine learning, multimodal biodiversity sensing, animal sensor networks, eDNA metabarcoding, and citizen science observatories. I was particularly interested in examples where AI and large-scale environmental sensing are being integrated into operational biodiversity workflows, including automated species recognition from sound and image data, infrastructure-based coustic monitoring, and multimodal data platforms designed to support FAIR biodiversity research. Another important takeaway from the event was the increasing convergence between ecological research infrastructures, open data ecosystems, and community-driven monitoring initiatives. Several contributions demonstrated how long-term monitoring efforts depend not only on technological innovation, but also on sustained collaboration between researchers, institutions, citizen scientists, and policy stakeholders. Overall, BioMonWeek 2026 provided an inspiring overview of current developments in biodiversity monitoring and reinforced the importance of long-term, interoperable, and collaborative research infrastructures for addressing biodiversity change at multiple scales.