ANERIS has been featured in a recent publication on marine biodiversity monitoring, titled Machine learning, eDNA and citizen science in monitoring and assessing biodiversity and invasive alien species at sea, published earlier this month in Frontiers in Marine Science. The paper aims to study how innovative technologies, citizen science, and eDNA enhance marine biodiversity monitoring. Examples used to support this are well-known within the ANERIS project tools and events - the MINKA observatory, AMOVALIH and the BioMARathons. 

Project coordinator Jaume Piera (ICM-CSIC) and project partner Berta Companys (ICM-CSIC) have collaborated on the paper by presenting project results and updates on tools and technologies used during a citizen science event - the summer school of June 2025.

The research paper outlines the use of citizen science, environmental DNA (eDNA), machine learning and other innovative technologies to improve marine biodiversity and the monitoring of invasive alien species. To discuss how new technologies and citizen science enhance marine biodiversity monitoring, the study uses last year's summer school as an example. During the event, from 3-5 June 2025, six European projects (ANERIS, GES4SEAS, OBAMA-NEXT, GuardIAS, BioBoost+ and POMP), together with 50 attendees, gathered to discuss and review the use of citizen science and machine learning in monitoring and assessing marine biodiversity.   

The MINKA observatory is studied in the paper as an example of a participatory initiative to reduce the knowledge gap in marine biodiversity, as it has extended the observational capabilities by allowing participants and users to contribute to both biodiversity and environmental observations. ANERIS’ technology, AMOVALIH, a tool developed within MINKA, has also been seen as an example of a tool that reduces the knowledge gap in marine life monitoring, with its hybrid intelligence system. The BioMARathons (BioMARató in Catalonia and BioMARatona in Portugal) have also been studied as methods for expanding marine biodiversity data collection, with both reaching outstanding numbers of observations and participants in the last few years. 

With many examples, including the MINKA observatory, AMOVALIH and the BioMARathons, this paper studies how innovation and citizens’ involvement can enhance marine biodiversity monitoring and management by providing more opportunities for easier data collection and identification of observations. 

You can read the full paper here.