Novel Technologies and Their Application for Protected Area Management: A Supporting Approach in Biodiversity Monitoring

Abstract

State-of-the-art tools are revolutionizing protected area (PA) manager approaches to biodiversity monitoring. Effective strategies are available for test site establishment, data collection, archiving, analysis, and presentation. In PAs, use of new technologies will support a shift from primarily expert-based to automated monitoring procedures, allowing increasingly efficient data collection and facilitating adherence to conservation requirements. Selection and application of appropriate tools increasingly improve options for adaptive management. In this chapter, modern biodiversity monitoring techniques are introduced and discussed in relation to previous standard approaches for their applicability in diverse habitats and for different groups of organisms. A review of some of today’s most exciting technologies is presented, including environmental DNA analysis for species identification; automated optical, olfactory, and auditory devices; remote sensing applications relaying site conditions in real-time; and uses of unmanned aerial systems technology for observation and mapping. An overview is given in the context of applicability of monitoring tools in different ecosystems, providing a theoretical basis from conceptualization to implementation of novel tools in a monitoring program. Practical examples from real-world PAs are provided.

Current Trends and Issues in Research on Biodiversity Conservation and Tourism Sustainability

“…Citizen science is a rapidly developing research approach in many fields, including the biodiversity conservation and sustainable tourism [32][33][34][35][36][37][38]. The data is of adequate quality to assess the efficiency of PA conservation and tourism management.…”

Environmental DNA-Based Methods in Biodiversity Monitoring of Protected Areas: Application Range, Limitations, and Needs

“…The methodologies used must overcome several hurdles for effective implementation of different biodiversity monitoring programs. Monitoring on a large scale is costly and time consuming because it must occur at regular time intervals over a long period of time at the same observation sites e.g., [17]. Compounding financial and time constraints, a large number of organism groups would need to be monitored to obtain comprehensive biodiversity data for accurate ecological assessment allowing follow-up conservation action.…”

“…Due to the multitude of benefits that a robust biodiversity monitoring program provides to human society, there is significant demand and interest in accommodating these challenges among different users, spanning the scientific community, industry, NGOs, and national, sub-national, and international clients [22]. For targeted implementation of biodiversity surveys, conventional and novel techniques are already available, which, however, have reached different degrees of maturity [17].…”

“…Moreover, to enhance positive development of conservation targets, it is necessary to verify the effectiveness and success of the management measures applied [64]. Consequently, there is a high demand for applicable monitoring practices and related conventional as well as novel survey tools to facilitate these challenges and to achieve the desired conservation results [17].…”

A Conceptual Framework for Biodiversity Monitoring Programs in Conservation Areas

“…These approaches provide, on the one hand, opportunities to improve scientific observation of ecosystems despite potential deficiencies of human resources or expertise. On the other hand, reliance on big data introduces challenges, such as the requirement for efficient information technology and reliable database management [30]. Modern molecular techniques allow assessment of species and habitats over large areas of PAs and OECMs by using non-destructive sampling.…”