3D-imaging technologies provide measurements of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems' structure, key for biodiversity studies. However, the practical use of these observations globally faces practical challenges. Firstly, available 3D data are geographical biased, with significant gaps in the tropics. Secondly, no data source provides, by itself, global coverage at a suitable temporal recurrence. Thus, global monitoring initiatives, such as assessment of essential biodiversity variables (EBVs), will necessarily have to involve the combination of disparate datasets. We propose a standardised framework of ecosystem morphological traitsheight, cover and structural complexitythat could enable monitoring of globally-consistent EBVs at regional scales, by flexibly integrating different information sourcessatellites, aircrafts, drones or ground data -, allowing global biodiversity targets relating to ecosystem structure to be monitored and regularly reported.

No abstract