Fig. 1: Uncovering biodiversity through Digital Agriculture.

Biodiversity monitoring (a) is supported by various technologies, including drones (b), camera traps (c), eDNA obtained from genetic samples (d), and passive acoustic monitoring (e). These technologies record species occurrences and partly abundances, enabling subsequent assessments of species distributions and community compositions (in blue; f). Digital Agriculture (g) uses the same technologies in routine field and farm management (shown in red). Drones and camera traps (h), sometimes combined with passive acoustic monitoring (i), monitor pest occurrences and damages. Simultaneously, weeding robots facilitate the detection and removal of weeds (j) that compete with crops for space and nutrients. Soil sampling (k), often used to control for nutrient availability, may also support the extraction of eDNA to control for harmful pathogens (l). Because biodiversity monitoring (a) shares technology requirements with Digital Agriculture (g), data from the latter, if made accessible to biodiversity monitoring experts, could improve assessments of species populations and community composition (in blue; f).