NEWS & EVENTS

At the LivingData 2025 conference in Colombia, the GUARDEN team presented the GeoPl@ntNet platform, our tool developed under the GUARDEN. His talk highlighted how artificial intelligence and open biodiversity data can serve as powerful resources for environmental and global biodiversity monitoring.

GeoPl@ntNet builds upon the success of the widely used Pl@ntNet mobile app, which already brings together over 20 million users worldwide. This citizen science initiative allows anyone to identify plant species using their smartphone, contributing valuable data to biodiversity research. The new GeoPl@ntNet platform takes this concept further, transforming these massive data streams into high-resolution biodiversity maps that can help detect environmental crimes, verify compliance with EU deforestation regulations, and monitor changes in ecosystems over time.

By combining millions of species occurrence records from global databases such as GBIF and EVA, and training deep learning models on high-performance computing systems like Jean Zay, GeoPl@ntNet produces detailed maps of plant species distributions, habitats, and biodiversity indicators. These outputs enable researchers, conservationists, and policymakers to assess biodiversity integrity at fine spatial scales, for example, within a 25 x 25 km grid subdivided into 50 x 50 m cells. The result is a dynamic tool that supports various analyses, from identifying protected or invasive species to evaluating habitat quality.

In future scenarios, GeoPl@ntNet could evolve toward an even more operational decision support tool. For example, managers might subscribe to alerts when unusual observations or new invasive records appear in a target area; restoration teams could track pre‑/post‑intervention changes using standardized indicators; and protected‑area staff might combine GeoPl@ntNet outputs with complementary remote‑sensing layers to screen potential vegetation changes.

Participating in international events like LivingData 2025 is crucial for GUARDEN. These conferences are unique spaces for collaboration between science, technology, and policy, enabling European research projects to share their innovations with the global community. By showcasing GeoPl@ntNet at LivingData, the GUARDEN team not only promotes the value of open, trustworthy biodiversity intelligence but also reinforces the role of Europe as a leader in sustainable digital transformation.