Man Qi, Matthew Gadd, De Daniele Martini, Katrina Davis, Biao Xiong, Alice Rosen, Nick Hawes, Rob Salguero-Gomez

Human activities have accelerated species extinctions, causing a rapid biodiversity decline. Simultaneously, recent advancements in artificial intelligence and autonomous systems offer transformative potential for biodiversity research. Uncrewed vehicles—such as aerial drones, ground robots, and underwater vehicles—equipped with high-resolution sensors enhance ecosystem monitoring with unprecedented efficiency and scale. Here, we review studies published in Web of Science (1930–2023) using uncrewed vehicles for ecological monitoring and explore their broader potential to further biodiversity research. Drones are predominantly used for vegetation mapping, species monitoring, and habitat assessment; underwater vehicles focus on supporting benthic surveys, and water quality monitoring; and ground robots are used mostly for sample collection. Despite this breadth of existing applications, we identify key gaps: the growing body of research predominantly addresses plants (46%) and animals (44%), with minimal focus on microbes (10%). Additionally, key biodiversity hotspots are underrepresented, including South Africa, Central America, and South America. Our findings emphasise the need to expand taxonomic and biogeographic coverage to maximise the impact of these technologies. We argue that integrating uncrewed vehicles, payloads, and AI through collaborations between ecologists and roboticists can enable cost-effective, accurate ecological monitoring, advancing biodiversity conservation and addressing pressing knowledge gaps in the Anthropocene.