<table><thead><tr><th>Repeatable sampling methods that can automate and expand the extent and resolution of biodiversity monitoring are urgently needed to provide robust estimates of long-term trends. Closing the knowledge gap has never been more important.<br>MAMBO is addressing this challenge through innovative approaches to develop, test and deploy modern enabling tools for monitoring wildlife species and their habitats.<br>MAMBO will help to realise the potential of very high spatial resolution remotely sensed data (in particular airborne LiDAR, drone and Sentinel2 data) to support habitat and biodiversity monitoring.<br>MAMBO will provide cost-effective, long-term, and user-friendly solutions to land managers, member states agencies and the EEA for monitoring biodiversity and habitats, and help to evaluate the conservation status of nature reserves.</th><th>A technical workshop will further train and encourage interested stakeholders to adapt and use our resulting open source remote sensing data processing frameworks, scripts and pipelines. MAMBO will reach interested professionals through webinars, scientific publications and mobiliseresearch journalists.<br><b>Exploitation:</b> Open Research Europe (ORE) and the Open Access journal Research Ideas and Outcomes (RIO) will be used to ensure effective exploitation of project results and availability beyond MAMBO's lifetime. The project's Key Exploitable Results (KERs) will be published on EC's Horizon Result Platform (HRP). Beyond the HRP, MAMBO will get support from the Horizon Results Booster (HRB) to better exploit the project activities. We will provision open access data by making MAMBO data and tools FAIR.<br><b>Communication:</b> Online activities will use the website as a hub and a repository for all public information on the project, supported by the use of social media channels (Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube).</th><th>MAMBO will identify metrics and indicators that can be commonly used across Europe for habitatcondition monitoring, measurable with remotesensing. MAMBO will further advance knowledge on how to take up LiDAR and drone data for operational habitat monitoring, specifically in habitats prioritised for conservation action (e.g. grasslands, wetlands). MAMBO will also develop, test and share remotely sensed based methods for mapping habitat extent, using in-situ observations, deep learning and EO data from Copernicus.<br>MAMBO will contribute to developing a framework for integrating data from new and existing biodiversity data streams into the future European system of biodiversity monitoring (EuropaBON), thus providing the next generation of biodiversity indicators needed to measure progress in tackling the biodiversity crisis.</th></tr><tr><th>TARGET GROUPS</th><th>OUTCOMES</th><th>IMPACTS</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>European Commission, particularly DG Environment for the implementation of the Biodiversity Strategy (see WP 7.5), and the EKNnowledge Centre for Biodiversity (KCBD) regarding data and knowledge. EU-level assessments made by the European Environmental Agency(EEA) through its European Topic Centre on Biological Diversity (ETC-BD). National, regional and local level policy and decision makers, incl. environmental agencies and ministries of member states with responsibility for reporting to the Birds and Habitats Directives. Land managers and land owners (e.g. inside and outside Natura 2000 sites). Non-governmental organisations - e.g. IUCN. Existing monitoring schemes (e.g. eBMS, EUPoMS, SPRING, EuMon). Ecologists and biodiversity scientists working on bioacoustics and AI based image recognition. Domain scientists developing scripts and analysis tools for mapping and monitoring habitat extent and condition. eScience engineers and developers of virtual research infrastructures with focus on biodiversity, ecosystems and the environment (e.g. LifeWatch, ENVRI). Citizen science communities.</td><td>We expect that the technical developments and research networks developed and strengthened through MAMBO will help maximise the potential for a revolution in the scope and capacity for monitoring species and habitats, especially those for which knowledge gaps still exist, and crucial elements of ecosystems that humans depend on. We expect to see a widespread uptake of remote sensing technology for habitat monitoring, in particular LiDAR, drone and Sentinel-2 data. We expect an increase in LiDAR and drone data sharing and use triggered by the adoption of standard practices and harmonized protocols for data acquisition, pre-processing and storage. We expect that our best practice guide for insect monitoring using automated sensors, deeplearning and computer vision will accelerate and standardise the adoption of this exciting new technology. We believe that MAMBO will play an important role in the rise of deeplearning and computer vision in transforming ecological research to address the global challenge of insect declines.</td><td>It thus supports the implementation of the Green Deal, the EU biodiversity strategy 2030 and the Birds and Habitats Directives, and will contribute to the Commission's new governance framework for biodiversity under the future EU Nature Restoration Law. MAMBO will deliver new ways of monitoring species and habitats via automated (sound and image) recognition and remote sensing (drones, LiDAR, satellite). Reliable data on the natural environment is fundamental to support science on species conservation in human-modified landscapes. We will make a substantive contribution to understanding climate change and land-use impacts on biodiversity and advise beneficiaries at global (e.g. IUCN, IPBES, IPCC), regional (e.g. EU, EEA) and national levels (reporting of member states).</td></tr></tbody></table>
# 3. Quality and efficiency of the implementation

## 3.1 Work plan and resources

MAMBO is organised into eight work packages (WPs) grouped along three main pillars (Fig. 3). WP1 and WP2 aim to engage users into the co-design process and link the tools and data streams to existing infrastructures, respectively. WP3 and WP4 will develop new and enhance existing tools for monitoring species and habitats, respectively. WP5, WP6, and WP7, will ensure that these tools are demonstrated to relevant user groups, which the data streams are integrated with existing monitoring and that results are disseminated and taken up by policy makers. WP8 will ensure efficient coordination across and beyond this truly interdisciplinary project.

The project period duration of MAMBO is 48 months and the timeline of the work in individual WPs and tasks is indicated in the GANTT chart in Fig. 4.

<figure><img src="image_4.png" /><figcaption>Figure 3. doi</figcaption></figure>

The three main pillars of activity in MAMBO and the underlying work packages.

## 3.2 Capacity of participants and consortium as a whole

The MAMBO consortium brings together key global research leaders related to the monitoring of species and habitats as is evident from Table 2 individually, these partners represent major strengths which are elaborated below. Many partners have an excellent track record of numerous past collaborations in large-scale projects and are known to complement each other in areas such as stakeholder involvement, biological monitoring, citizen science, and science policy integration. MAMBO connects these key elements of expertise with leaders in cutting-edge biodiversity monitoring technology from the plot to
# 3. Quality and efficiency of the implementation

## 3.1 Work plan and resources

MAMBO is organised into eight work packages (WPs) grouped along three main pillars (Fig. 3). WP1 and WP2 aim to engage users into the co-design process and link the tools and data streams to existing infrastructures, respectively. WP3 and WP4 will develop new and enhance existing tools for monitoring species and habitats, respectively. WP5, WP6, and WP7, will ensure that these tools are demonstrated to relevant user groups, which the data streams are integrated with existing monitoring and that results are disseminated and taken up by policy makers. WP8 will ensure efficient coordination across and beyond this truly interdisciplinary project.

The project period duration of MAMBO is 48 months and the timeline of the work in individual WPs and tasks is indicated in the GANTT chart in Fig. 4.

<figure><img src="image_4.png" /><figcaption>Figure 3. doi</figcaption></figure>

The three main pillars of activity in MAMBO and the underlying work packages.

## 3.2 Capacity of participants and consortium as a whole

The MAMBO consortium brings together key global research leaders related to the monitoring of species and habitats as is evident from Table 2 individually, these partners represent major strengths which are elaborated below. Many partners have an excellent track record of numerous past collaborations in large-scale projects and are known to complement each other in areas such as stakeholder involvement, biological monitoring, citizen science, and science policy integration. MAMBO connects these key elements of expertise with leaders in cutting-edge biodiversity monitoring technology from the plot to
the continent. Together, the consortium has the necessary experience and capacity to make step changes in efficient ecological monitoring for the conservation of species and habitats.

<figure><img src="image_5.png" /><figcaption>**Figure 3.2** The GANTT diagram of MAMBO illustrating how the activity within each individual WP is</figcaption></figure>

Figure 4. doi

The GANTT diagram of MAMBO.

Aarhus University (AU) is a strong public university that is internationally recognised for the high quality of its research, research-based degree programmes, and public sector government consultancy, in addition to value-creating collaboration with private businesses, public sector institutions and civil society. In 2021, it is no. 106 on the Times Higher Education World University Ranking. AU was founded in 1928 and subscribes to the fundamental values described in the Magna Carta of European Universities. Today its academic portfolio is broad-ranging, from the classic university disciplines of the humanities, natural sciences, social sciences, health sciences and theology to business and engineering, educational theory and practice, and the environmental and agricultural sciences. AU has around 38,000 students, 10,700 employees, 1,800 PhD students and close to 1,000 postdoctoral scholars. Internationalisation is at the heart of AU's mission and activities. AU has an increasing number of international research and innovation partnerships and is participating in 410 H2020 projects, 41 of these as coordinators. It also hosts 37 ERC projects, and it has a strong track record of attracting individual fellowships and hosting visiting researchers at all career stages for both training and knowledge transfer purposes.

**Naturalis** is the Dutch national research institute and infrastructure on biodiversity and systematics. Employing over 100 researchers, the institute provides an innovative and
the continent. Together, the consortium has the necessary experience and capacity to make step changes in efficient ecological monitoring for the conservation of species and habitats.

<figure><img src="image_5.png" /><figcaption>**Figure 3.2** The GANTT diagram of MAMBO illustrating how the activity within each individual WP is</figcaption></figure>

Figure 4. doi

The GANTT diagram of MAMBO.

Aarhus University (AU) is a strong public university that is internationally recognised for the high quality of its research, research-based degree programmes, and public sector government consultancy, in addition to value-creating collaboration with private businesses, public sector institutions and civil society. In 2021, it is no. 106 on the Times Higher Education World University Ranking. AU was founded in 1928 and subscribes to the fundamental values described in the Magna Carta of European Universities. Today its academic portfolio is broad-ranging, from the classic university disciplines of the humanities, natural sciences, social sciences, health sciences and theology to business and engineering, educational theory and practice, and the environmental and agricultural sciences. AU has around 38,000 students, 10,700 employees, 1,800 PhD students and close to 1,000 postdoctoral scholars. Internationalisation is at the heart of AU's mission and activities. AU has an increasing number of international research and innovation partnerships and is participating in 410 H2020 projects, 41 of these as coordinators. It also hosts 37 ERC projects, and it has a strong track record of attracting individual fellowships and hosting visiting researchers at all career stages for both training and knowledge transfer purposes.

Naturalis is the Dutch national research institute and infrastructure on biodiversity and systematics. Employing over 100 researchers, the institute provides an innovative and
integrated research program and BA/MA courses towards its core expertise of species identification and monitoring. Our research projects comprise a whole array of disciplines, ranging from taxonomy, systematics, evolution, biodiversity, ethnobiology, biogeography, bioinformatics, and mineralogy. The Naturalis mission is “to describe, understand and explore biodiversity for human wellbeing and the future of our planet”. Naturalis offers a state-of-the-art research infrastructure and has a world-leading position in the development of (inter)national research infrastructures on biodiversity data (ARISE, GBIF, DiSSCo, COL, iBOL). The NWO-funded ARISE project as part of the Dutch National Roadmap for Large-Scale Research Facilities enables Naturalis to build an infrastructure to accelerate the discovery and description of biodiversity in the Netherlands and beyond using AI-facilitated image and sound recognition. Naturalis has a proven track record in project management currently coordinating projects like the H2020-MSC-ITN 4D REEF, the ESFRI Research Infrastructure DiSSCo, the FA COST Action MOBILISE and the DiSSCo Prepare project (INFRAIA).

**The Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ**, is the only centre in the Helmholtz Association to be exclusively devoted to environmental research in a great variety of fields. The UFZ has become a worldwide acknowledged centre of expertise in integrated and interdisciplinary environmental research and in the development of sustainable land management strategies. UFZ has a strong focus on methodological advancements in the modelling and simulation of environmental systems, both in fundamental and applied research. UFZ is and was participating in more than 90 Projects funded within FP7 and Horizon 2020, 34 of them coordinated by UFZ (collaborative and individual projects). UFZ is or was the host for 3 ERC grants and is leading the European Topic Centre on Inland, Coastal and Marine waters (ETC/ICM) funded by the European Environment Agency (EEA) since 2014. For MAMBO, UFZ will provide its expertise in merging animal and plant ecology, and population, community and macroecology to develop scientific principles to explain functional relationships across organisational levels and spatio-temporal scales, in particular for the integration envisaged in the lead of WP6. In order to make our research policy relevant, the UFZ team is heavily involved in international, especially intergovernmental, assessments (IPBES, IPCC) as well as scientific communication and outreach, which makes it a natural candidate to lead WP7.

**Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et Automatique (Inria)** is the main French public research body fully dedicated to computer sciences. More than 3,500 researchers and engineers work in 200 project teams, most of which are shared with major research universities, to explore new avenues, often in an interdisciplinary manner and in collaboration with industrial partners. With 62 ERC fellowship winners, awarded since their creation in 2007 by the European Research Council, Inria is the leading European player in exploratory research in the field of digital sciences and computing. In MAMBO, Inria will act as the representative partner of the PI@ntNet consortium and will leverage more than 10 years of technical experience in designing, developing, deploying and sustaining the PI@ntNet platform. PI@ntNet is one of the largest citizen observatories in the world involving more than ten million active users of PI@ntNet mobile app (AI-based plant identification). Since 2020, PI@ntNet has become one of the largest data publishers in
integrated research program and BA/MA courses towards its core expertise of species identification and monitoring. Our research projects comprise a whole array of disciplines, ranging from taxonomy, systematics, evolution, biodiversity, ethnobiology, biogeography, bioinformatics, and mineralogy. The Naturalis mission is "to describe, understand and explore biodiversity for human wellbeing and the future of our planet". Naturalis offers a state-of-the-art research infrastructure and has a world-leading position in the development of (inter)national research infrastructures on biodiversity data (ARISE, GBIF, DiSSCo, COL, iBOL). The NWO-funded ARISE project as part of the Dutch National Roadmap for Large-Scale Research Facilities enables Naturalis to build an infrastructure to accelerate the discovery and description of biodiversity in the Netherlands and beyond using AI-facilitated image and sound recognition. Naturalis has a proven track record in project management currently coordinating projects like the H2020-MSC-ITN 4D REEF, the ESFRI Research Infrastructure DiSSCo, the FA COST Action MOBILISE and the DiSSCo Prepare project (INFRAIA).

**The Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ**, is the only centre in the Helmholtz Association to be exclusively devoted to environmental research in a great variety of fields. The UFZ has become a worldwide acknowledged centre of expertise in integrated and interdisciplinary environmental research and in the development of sustainable land management strategies. UFZ has a strong focus on methodological advancements in the modelling and simulation of environmental systems, both in fundamental and applied research. UFZ is and was participating in more than 90 Projects funded within FP7 and Horizon 2020, 34 of them coordinated by UFZ (collaborative and individual projects). UFZ is or was the host for 3 ERC grants and is leading the European Topic Centre on Inland, Coastal and Marine waters (ETC/ICM) funded by the European Environment Agency (EEA) since 2014. For MAMBO, UFZ will provide its expertise in merging animal and plant ecology, and population, community and macroecology to develop scientific principles to explain functional relationships across organisational levels and spatio-temporal scales, in particular for the integration envisaged in the lead of WP6. In order to make our research policy relevant, the UFZ team is heavily involved in international, especially intergovernmental, assessments (IPBES, IPCC) as well as scientific communication and outreach, which makes it a natural candidate to lead WP7.

**Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et Automatique (Inria)** is the main French public research body fully dedicated to computer sciences. More than 3,500 researchers and engineers work in 200 project teams, most of which are shared with major research universities, to explore new avenues, often in an interdisciplinary manner and in collaboration with industrial partners. With 62 ERC fellowship winners, awarded since their creation in 2007 by the European Research Council, Inria is the leading European player in exploratory research in the field of digital sciences and computing. In MAMBO, Inria will act as the representative partner of the PI@ntNet consortium and will leverage more than 10 years of technical experience in designing, developing, deploying and sustaining the PI@ntNet platform. PI@ntNet is one of the largest citizen observatories in the world involving more than ten million active users of PI@ntNet mobile app (AI-based plant identification). Since 2020, PI@ntNet has become one of the largest data publishers in
GBIF (the world's largest biodiversity data platform). PI@ntNet is also a service provider within the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), in particular a plant identification service used by several thousand application developers in fields such as agroecology, biodiversity management or garden maintenance.

**The University of Amsterdam (UvA)** is the largest university in the Netherlands, with >30,000 students, almost 5,000 staff, and a budget of almost 500 million euros. UvA ranks amongst the largest universities in Europe and is a core member of the League of European Research Universities (LERU). The Faculty of Science at the UvA is located at Amsterdam Science Park, one of the largest research hubs in Europe, and is surrounded by numerous knowledge institutes and spin-off companies with their roots in science and research. The UvA was involved in >200 H2020 projects (122 of which were coordinated), including 61 ERC projects, 56 Marie Curie Individual Fellowships, and 20 Marie Curie ITN projects. The work will be carried out at the UvA Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED). At the core of IBED lies an integrated approach to studying biodiversity, ecosystems and the environment, with core expertise in ecology, evolutionary biology, physical geography, and environmental chemistry. IBED's research is supported by excellent research facilities, including technical equipment for geospatial data collection (differential GPS, mobile GIS, drones, hand-held laser scanner) and infrastructure for big data storage and analysis (e.g. high-performance computing facilities, dedicated servers, UvA Geoportal, GIS studio, and virtual labs).

**The French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD)** is a public industrial and commercial enterprise joint authority of the Ministry of Higher Education and Research and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which bases its operations on development needs, from field to laboratory and from a local to a global scale. CIRAD plays a major role in the aim to generate and pass on new knowledge and support agricultural development and biodiversity conservation, with activities involving the life, social and engineering sciences applied to agriculture, biodiversity and rural territories. During the MAMBO project, CIRAD will leverage its strong expertise in the development of innovative tools for plant identification, in a multitude of contexts, including protected or endangered plant species. CIRAD team involved in MAMBO is affiliated with the Univ. of Montpellier, which has been in the Top 3 of the Shanghai World University Ranking for Ecology for 5 years (2017-2021). Due to its experience in global agro-biodiversity analysis, management and conservation, its involvement in the coordination of large-scale ICT projects, such as the PI@ntNet citizen science platform, and its good understanding of the EU biodiversity policies (with its involvement in more than 100 European projects), CIRAD will coordinate the WP5 of MAMBO, ensuring the equipment and demonstration on sites and in targeted regions. CIRAD will also develop new approaches for the identification of species communities (Task T3.4), and make use of its capacities and network for wide dissemination and valorization of the developed results.

**Pensoft Publishers'** project department is comprised of a motivated team of active scientists, project managers and science communicators offering long-standing expertise in delivering the full set of science communication services. It has been involved in the science communication of over 30 projects, which guarantees the company's experience
GBIF (the world's largest biodiversity data platform). PI@ntNet is also a service provider within the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), in particular a plant identification service used by several thousand application developers in fields such as agroecology, biodiversity management or garden maintenance.

**The University of Amsterdam (UvA)** is the largest university in the Netherlands, with >30,000 students, almost 5,000 staff, and a budget of almost 500 million euros. UvA ranks amongst the largest universities in Europe and is a core member of the League of European Research Universities (LERU). The Faculty of Science at the UvA is located at Amsterdam Science Park, one of the largest research hubs in Europe, and is surrounded by numerous knowledge institutes and spin-off companies with their roots in science and research. The UvA was involved in >200 H2020 projects (122 of which were coordinated), including 61 ERC projects, 56 Marie Curie Individual Fellowships, and 20 Marie Curie ITN projects. The work will be carried out at the UvA Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED). At the core of IBED lies an integrated approach to studying biodiversity, ecosystems and the environment, with core expertise in ecology, evolutionary biology, physical geography, and environmental chemistry. IBED's research is supported by excellent research facilities, including technical equipment for geospatial data collection (differential GPS, mobile GIS, drones, hand-held laser scanner) and infrastructure for big data storage and analysis (e.g. high-performance computing facilities, dedicated servers, UvA Geoportal, GIS studio, and virtual labs).

**The French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD)** is a public industrial and commercial enterprise joint authority of the Ministry of Higher Education and Research and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which bases its operations on development needs, from field to laboratory and from a local to a global scale. CIRAD plays a major role in the aim to generate and pass on new knowledge and support agricultural development and biodiversity conservation, with activities involving the life, social and engineering sciences applied to agriculture, biodiversity and rural territories. During the MAMBO project, CIRAD will leverage its strong expertise in the development of innovative tools for plant identification, in a multitude of contexts, including protected or endangered plant species. CIRAD team involved in MAMBO is affiliated with the Univ. of Montpellier, which has been in the Top 3 of the Shanghai World University Ranking for Ecology for 5 years (2017-2021). Due to its experience in global agro-biodiversity analysis, management and conservation, its involvement in the coordination of large-scale ICT projects, such as the PI@ntNet citizen science platform, and its good understanding of the EU biodiversity policies (with its involvement in more than 100 European projects), CIRAD will coordinate the WP5 of MAMBO, ensuring the equipment and demonstration on sites and in targeted regions. CIRAD will also develop new approaches for the identification of species communities (Task T3.4), and make use of its capacities and network for wide dissemination and valorization of the developed results.

**Pensoft Publishers'** project department is comprised of a motivated team of active scientists, project managers and science communicators offering long-standing expertise in delivering the full set of science communication services. It has been involved in the science communication of over 30 projects, which guarantees the company's experience
and competence. Besides being a science communication expert, PENSOFT is also a science publisher. Since the company's founding in 1992, it has published more than 1000 books and e-books. In 2014, the company launched a novel Open Access book (re-)publishing platform, Advanced Books. PENSOFT is well-known among academics worldwide with its technologically advanced peer-reviewed Open Access journals. The company is actively developing new tools, workflows, and methods for text- and data publishing, dissemination of scientific information and technologies for semantic enrichment of an article's content.

**Ecostack Innovations Limited (EcolNN)** is an SME that was established with the objective of providing innovation and consultancy services to tackle the trade-offs between development and biodiversity. The company provides consulting services in the fields of agri-environment, ecological and environmental monitoring and analysis, and stakeholder involvement. Currently, EcolNN provides environmental expertise to governmental and private organisations whilst the company is establishing a one-stop solution that may be accessed by different businesses to assess sustainability at the corporate level.

**The University of Reading (UREAD, Associated partner)** aims to solve some of the biggest problems facing people today, based on themes of Environment; Agriculture, Food and Health; and Prosperity and Resilience. The School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, is currently ranked 12th globally for agriculture and forestry (QS rankings 2021) and consistently ranked as the UK's top university for impact in Agricultural Sciences research (ISI Web of Knowledge, Essential Science Indicators). Our research is supported by significant external funding and from national research councils, government, the European Commission, industry and charities and has a well-established track record for impact, with long-term partnerships with a wide range of local, national and international stakeholders from industry, policy and NGOs. Individuals within the UREAD MAMBO team manage and chair the expert pool that will deliver a monitoring design for the European Pollinator Initiative (Prof. Simon Potts). For MAMBO, UREAD will provide its considerable expertise in identifying stakeholder needs and planning engagement activities with users (Dr Deepa Senapathi: WP1), assessing the costs and benefits of monitoring technology (Dr Tom Breeze: WP6) and contribute significantly to developing the science-policy interface at national, European and international level (WP7). UREAD will be part of the consortium as an associated Partner, with national funding from UKRI.

**The UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH, Associated partner)** is an independent, not-for-profit research institute carrying out excellent environmental science with impact. Our 500 scientists work to understand the environment, how it sustains life, and the human impact on it. We provide the data and insights that governments, businesses and researchers need to create a productive, resilient and healthy environment. Scientific curiosity, integrity and transparency are at the heart of how we work. UKCEH staff within the MAMBO team lead UK programmes for citizen science biodiversity monitoring, have more than 25 years of expertise in vegetation remote sensing, have expertise in environmental monitoring and assessment, computational ecology, computer vision, and deep learning and have experience with high performance and cloud computing, are qualified drone pilots with expertise in drone technology and
and competence. Besides being a science communication expert, PENSOFT is also a science publisher. Since the company's founding in 1992, it has published more than 1000 books and e-books. In 2014, the company launched a novel Open Access book (re-)publishing platform, Advanced Books. PENSOFT is well-known among academics worldwide with its technologically advanced peer-reviewed Open Access journals. The company is actively developing new tools, workflows, and methods for text- and data publishing, dissemination of scientific information and technologies for semantic enrichment of an article's content.

**Ecostack Innovations Limited (EcolNN)** is an SME that was established with the objective of providing innovation and consultancy services to tackle the trade-offs between development and biodiversity. The company provides consulting services in the fields of agri-environment, ecological and environmental monitoring and analysis, and stakeholder involvement. Currently, EcolNN provides environmental expertise to governmental and private organisations whilst the company is establishing a one-stop solution that may be accessed by different businesses to assess sustainability at the corporate level.

**The University of Reading (UREAD, Associated partner)** aims to solve some of the biggest problems facing people today, based on themes of Environment; Agriculture, Food and Health; and Prosperity and Resilience. The School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, is currently ranked 12th globally for agriculture and forestry (QS rankings 2021) and consistently ranked as the UK's top university for impact in Agricultural Sciences research (ISI Web of Knowledge, Essential Science Indicators). Our research is supported by significant external funding and from national research councils, government, the European Commission, industry and charities and has a well-established track record for impact, with long-term partnerships with a wide range of local, national and international stakeholders from industry, policy and NGOs. Individuals within the UREAD MAMBO team manage and chair the expert pool that will deliver a monitoring design for the European Pollinator Initiative (Prof. Simon Potts). For MAMBO, UREAD will provide its considerable expertise in identifying stakeholder needs and planning engagement activities with users (Dr Deepa Senapathi: WP1), assessing the costs and benefits of monitoring technology (Dr Tom Breeze: WP6) and contribute significantly to developing the science-policy interface at national, European and international level (WP7). UREAD will be part of the consortium as an associated Partner, with national funding from UKRI.

**The UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH, Associated partner)** is an independent, not-for-profit research institute carrying out excellent environmental science with impact. Our 500 scientists work to understand the environment, how it sustains life, and the human impact on it. We provide the data and insights that governments, businesses and researchers need to create a productive, resilient and healthy environment. Scientific curiosity, integrity and transparency are at the heart of how we work. UKCEH staff within the MAMBO team lead UK programmes for citizen science biodiversity monitoring, have more than 25 years of expertise in vegetation remote sensing, have expertise in environmental monitoring and assessment, computational ecology, computer vision, and deep learning and have experience with high performance and cloud computing, are qualified drone pilots with expertise in drone technology and
drone data processing and analysis. UKCEH has the following drones available for use in MAMBO WP4 and WP5: DJI Mavic 2 pro with high-quality RGB sensor; DJI Matrice 600 with Rikola hyper spectral sensor 500-900nm; DJI M300 with L1 Lidar, P1 photogrammetry grade RGB, and Micasense RGBNIR sensor. UKCEH will be part of the consortium as an associated Partner, with national funding from UKRI.

## 4. Ethics self-assessment

The MAMBO project will employ quantitative as well as qualitative methods to collect and process data. Specifically, MAMBO includes a range of qualitative methods (stakeholders, audiences, interviews, workshops, meetings, focus groups, digital tools) and data collection through quantitative methodologies (surveys, interviews and document reviews). MAMBO will involve policymakers, decision-makers, and stakeholders in the development of the tools and impact plans. MAMBO will develop best practices, tools, governance options and guidelines to support national and international biodiversity in the EU. The storage and handling of data will happen in ways that as far as possible eliminate the risk of confidentiality breaches, comply with legislation on data in the respective countries, and conform to the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GPDR). Moreover, to live up to the principles of reliability, honesty, respect and accountability in the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity (ALLEA 2017), we will throughout the project ensure these operational steps:

* Make all data publicly available after the anonymisation of all direct and indirect identifiers.

* Make succinct study protocols for each empirical WP.

* Send the protocols for ethical review to the Steering board, whenever personal data is involved.

* Before data collection, pre-register our study at i.e. OSF (www.osf.io).

The research outlined in the MAMBO project does not intend to involve the collection of sensitive information. It could be anticipated, however, that informants' responses to any open questions in the study or deliberations through groups by the digital tools, or similar settings might, unintended, reveal sensitive information. Such potential situations will be anticipated in the study protocols and will be submitted for ethical assessment.

### Compliance with ethical principles and relevant legislation

Before the commencement of the research activities involving human participants, the relevant WP leader in collaboration with the Steering Board will ensure that the research practices are in line with the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity, national and organisational Research Ethics and Integrity Policies, and the operational steps presented in bullet points above. The study protocol will account for all ethical issues related to research involving human participants. It will form the basis for the selection and recruitment of participants. This includes the number of participants, inclusion/exclusion criteria and direct/indirect incentives for participation. A cover letter will be communicated to
drone data processing and analysis. UKCEH has the following drones available for use in MAMBO WP4 and WP5: DJI Mavic 2 pro with high-quality RGB sensor; DJI Matrice 600 with Rikola hyper spectral sensor 500-900nm; DJI M300 with L1 Lidar, P1 photogrammetry grade RGB, and Micasense RGBNIR sensor. UKCEH will be part of the consortium as an associated Partner, with national funding from UKRI.

## 4. Ethics self-assessment

The MAMBO project will employ quantitative as well as qualitative methods to collect and process data. Specifically, MAMBO includes a range of qualitative methods (stakeholders, audiences, interviews, workshops, meetings, focus groups, digital tools) and data collection through quantitative methodologies (surveys, interviews and document reviews). MAMBO will involve policymakers, decision-makers, and stakeholders in the development of the tools and impact plans. MAMBO will develop best practices, tools, governance options and guidelines to support national and international biodiversity in the EU. The storage and handling of data will happen in ways that as far as possible eliminate the risk of confidentiality breaches, comply with legislation on data in the respective countries, and conform to the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GPDR). Moreover, to live up to the principles of reliability, honesty, respect and accountability in the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity (ALLEA 2017), we will throughout the project ensure these operational steps:

* Make all data publicly available after the anonymisation of all direct and indirect identifiers.

* Make succinct study protocols for each empirical WP.

* Send the protocols for ethical review to the Steering board, whenever personal data is involved.

* Before data collection, pre-register our study at i.e. OSF (www.osf.io).

The research outlined in the MAMBO project does not intend to involve the collection of sensitive information. It could be anticipated, however, that informants' responses to any open questions in the study or deliberations through groups by the digital tools, or similar settings might, unintended, reveal sensitive information. Such potential situations will be anticipated in the study protocols and will be submitted for ethical assessment.

### Compliance with ethical principles and relevant legislation

Before the commencement of the research activities involving human participants, the relevant WP leader in collaboration with the Steering Board will ensure that the research practices are in line with the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity, national and organisational Research Ethics and Integrity Policies, and the operational steps presented in bullet points above. The study protocol will account for all ethical issues related to research involving human participants. It will form the basis for the selection and recruitment of participants. This includes the number of participants, inclusion/exclusion criteria and direct/indirect incentives for participation. A cover letter will be communicated to
all participants and thereby ensure that all informants and respondents are duly informed
about the scope and purposes of their involvement and the research activities of the
project. Moreover, all human participants will be ensured anonymity and confidentiality
when appropriate. Procedures for informed consent will be strictly maintained, and copies
of Informed Consent Forms and Information Sheets will be prepared, duly signed, and
preserved. These will be concise and in language and terms understandable to the
participants. Participants will have the right:

* To know that participation is voluntary.

* To ask questions and receive understandable answers before making a decision,

* To know the degree of risk and burden involved in participation.

* To know who will benefit from participation.

* To know the procedures that will be implemented in the case of incidental findings.

* To withdraw themselves, their samples and data from the project at any time.

* To know of any potential commercial exploitation of the research.

'Personal data' is understood as data about an individual who can be identified from that
data or from related information. The project partners will respect and strictly adhere to
national and international regulations and laws while conducting research involving human
participants and when collecting and processing their personal data. In particular, the
partners will respect and strictly abide by the ethical principles expressed in:

* Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

* Directive 95/46/EC on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of
personal data and on the free movement of such data.

* Directive 2002/58 on Privacy and Electronic Communications.

The project will be designed according to the [Data Protection Act](https://www.elegalize.com/data-protection-act) which was approved by the EU Commission and Council in April 2016 and came into effect in 2018. Based on this new regulation the data protection of the project will furthermore include the following issues:

* Access to own data and right to be removed.

* Informing about hacking.

* The use of data for public interest and profiling.

* Privacy by design.

Responsibilities of the controller and the processor

In the context of the MAMBO project, which will collect personal data and also provide
open access to data generated as part of the research project, it is crucial to ensure
concise procedures for deleting personal identifiers before offering open access.
Responsibilities between the controller of the data and the processor of the data will be
clearly defined in the Data Management Plan developed in the early phases of the project.
While the project does not expect to collect sensitive data, it is nonetheless important to
implement strict procedures for safeguarding anonymity whenever relevant. All data from
either individual or social interactions will be dealt with on the basis of two main principles:
all participants and thereby ensure that all informants and respondents are duly informed
about the scope and purposes of their involvement and the research activities of the
project. Moreover, all human participants will be ensured anonymity and confidentiality
when appropriate. Procedures for informed consent will be strictly maintained, and copies
of Informed Consent Forms and Information Sheets will be prepared, duly signed, and
preserved. These will be concise and in language and terms understandable to the
participants. Participants will have the right:

* To know that participation is voluntary.

* To ask questions and receive understandable answers before making a decision,

* To know the degree of risk and burden involved in participation.

* To know who will benefit from participation.

* To know the procedures that will be implemented in the case of incidental findings.

* To withdraw themselves, their samples and data from the project at any time.

* To know of any potential commercial exploitation of the research.

'Personal data' is understood as data about an individual who can be identified from that
data or from related information. The project partners will respect and strictly adhere to
national and international regulations and laws while conducting research involving human
participants and when collecting and processing their personal data. In particular, the
partners will respect and strictly abide by the ethical principles expressed in:

* Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

* Directive 95/46/EC on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of
personal data and on the free movement of such data.

* Directive 2002/58 on Privacy and Electronic Communications.

The project will be designed according to the [Data Protection Act](https://www.elegalize.com/data-protection-act) which was approved by the EU Commission and Council in April 2016 and came into effect in 2018. Based on this new regulation the data protection of the project will furthermore include the following issues:

* Access to own data and right to be removed.

* Informing about hacking.

* The use of data for public interest and profiling.

* Privacy by design.

Responsibilities of the controller and the processor

In the context of the MAMBO project, which will collect personal data and also provide
open access to data generated as part of the research project, it is crucial to ensure
concise procedures for deleting personal identifiers before offering open access.
Responsibilities between the controller of the data and the processor of the data will be
clearly defined in the Data Management Plan developed in the early phases of the project.
While the project does not expect to collect sensitive data, it is nonetheless important to
implement strict procedures for safeguarding anonymity whenever relevant. All data from
either individual or social interactions will be dealt with on the basis of two main principles:
informed consent and privacy. Photographs, audio and video recordings are personal data and will be handled as such. Participants will be informed at the beginning of interviews or group discussions that video or tape recordings will be used, and they will have the option to agree or to decline. The Consortium will be supported by an external independent ethics advisor in order to be advised in i) the activities involving the collection and/or processing of personal data for supporting the Consortium in dealing with them in compliance with the GDPR, the national legislation and the HE ethical standards; ii) the identification and thorough analysis of the ethics issues raised in the demonstration sites; iii) the measures that will be taken to mitigate such risks and to ensure compliance with the ethics standards of Horizon Europe. The external independent Ethics Advisor must be appointed by month 6, and the frequency of reports: once at the end of each reporting period.

## Conflicts of interest

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

## References

* ALLEA (2017) The European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity. https://allea.org/european-code-of-conduct-2017/

* Anonymous (2021) Targeting Revisits Map: Grasshoppers and Allies. https://connect-apps.ceh.ac.uk/targeting_revisits_grasshoppers/

* Bjerge K, Nielsen JB, Sepstrup MV, Helsing-Nielsen F, Høye TT (2021) An Automated Light Trap to Monitor Moths (Lepidoptera) Using Computer Vision-Based Tracking and Deep Learning. Sensors 21 (2). https://doi.org/10.3390/s21020343

* Botella C, Joly A, Bonnet P, Monestiez P, Munoz F (2018) A Deep Learning Approach to Species Distribution Modelling. Multimedia Tools and Applications for Environmental & Biodiversity Informatics 169-199. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76445-0_10

* Caron M, Touvron H, Misra I, Jégou H, Mairal J, Bojanowski P, Joulin A (2021) Emerging Properties in Self-Supervised Vision Transformers. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2104.14294

* Deneu B, Servajean M, Bonnet P, Botella C, Munoz F, Joly A (2021) Convolutional neural networks improve species distribution modelling by capturing the spatial structure of the environment. PLOS Computational Biology 17 (4). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008856

* Dosovitskiy A, al. e (2020) An image is worth 16x16 words: Transformers for image recognition at scale. arXiv preprint arXiv:2010.11929.

* Høye T, Ärje J, Bjerge K, Hansen OP, Iosifidis A, Leese F, Mann HR, Meissner K, Melvad C, Raitoharju J (2021) Deep learning and computer vision will transform entomology. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118 (2). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2002545117

* Isaac NB, Strien A, August T, Zeeuw M, Roy D (2014) Statistics for citizen science: extracting signals of change from noisy ecological data. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 5 (10): 1052-1060. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210x.12254
informed consent and privacy. Photographs, audio and video recordings are personal data and will be handled as such. Participants will be informed at the beginning of interviews or group discussions that video or tape recordings will be used, and they will have the option to agree or to decline. The Consortium will be supported by an external independent ethics advisor in order to be advised in i) the activities involving the collection and/or processing of personal data for supporting the Consortium in dealing with them in compliance with the GDPR, the national legislation and the HE ethical standards; ii) the identification and thorough analysis of the ethics issues raised in the demonstration sites; iii) the measures that will be taken to mitigate such risks and to ensure compliance with the ethics standards of Horizon Europe. The external independent Ethics Advisor must be appointed by month 6, and the frequency of reports: once at the end of each reporting period.

## Conflicts of interest

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

## References

* ALLEA (2017) The European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity. https://allea.org/european-code-of-conduct-2017/

* Anonymous (2021) Targeting Revisits Map: Grasshoppers and Allies. https://connect-apps.ceh.ac.uk/targeting_revisits_grasshoppers/

* Bjerge K, Nielsen JB, Sepstrup MV, Helsing-Nielsen F, Høye TT (2021) An Automated Light Trap to Monitor Moths (Lepidoptera) Using Computer Vision-Based Tracking and Deep Learning. Sensors 21 (2). https://doi.org/10.3390/s21020343

* Botella C, Joly A, Bonnet P, Monestiez P, Munoz F (2018) A Deep Learning Approach to Species Distribution Modelling. Multimedia Tools and Applications for Environmental & Biodiversity Informatics 169-199. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76445-0_10

* Caron M, Touvron H, Misra I, Jégou H, Mairal J, Bojanowski P, Joulin A (2021) Emerging Properties in Self-Supervised Vision Transformers. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2104.14294

* Deneu B, Servajean M, Bonnet P, Botella C, Munoz F, Joly A (2021) Convolutional neural networks improve species distribution modelling by capturing the spatial structure of the environment. PLOS Computational Biology 17 (4). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008856

* Dosovitskiy A, al. e (2020) An image is worth 16x16 words: Transformers for image recognition at scale. arXiv preprint arXiv:2010.11929.

* Høye T, Ärje J, Bjerge K, Hansen OP, Iosifidis A, Leese F, Mann HR, Meissner K, Melvad C, Raitoharju J (2021) Deep learning and computer vision will transform entomology. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118 (2). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2002545117

* Isaac NB, Strien A, August T, Zeeuw M, Roy D (2014) Statistics for citizen science: extracting signals of change from noisy ecological data. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 5 (10): 1052-1060. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210x.12254
* Liutkus A, Cifka O, Wu S, Şimşekli U, Yang Y, Richard G (2021) Relative Positional Encoding for Transformers with Linear Complexity. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv. 2105.08399

* Maes J, al. e (2020) Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services: An EU ecosystem assessment, EUR 30161 EN. Publications Office of the European Union https://doi.org/10.2760/757183

* OECD (May 2019) Biodiversity: Finance and the Economic and Business Case for Action, report prepared for the G7 Environment Ministers' Meeting.

* Stowell D, Plumbley M (2014) Automatic large-scale classification of bird sounds is strongly improved by unsupervised feature learning. PeerJ 2 https://doi.org/10.7717/ peerj.488

* Stowell D, Wood M, Pamula H, Stylianou Y, Glotin H (2018) Automatic acoustic detection of birds through deep learning: The first Bird Audio Detection challenge. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 10 (3): 368-380. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210x. 13103
* Liutkus A, Cifka O, Wu S, Şimşekli U, Yang Y, Richard G (2021) Relative Positional Encoding for Transformers with Linear Complexity. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv. 2105.08399

* Maes J, al. e (2020) Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services: An EU ecosystem assessment, EUR 30161 EN. Publications Office of the European Union https://doi.org/10.2760/757183

* OECD (May 2019) Biodiversity: Finance and the Economic and Business Case for Action, report prepared for the G7 Environment Ministers' Meeting.

* Stowell D, Plumbley M (2014) Automatic large-scale classification of bird sounds is strongly improved by unsupervised feature learning. PeerJ 2 https://doi.org/10.7717/ peerj.488

* Stowell D, Wood M, Pamula H, Stylianou Y, Glotin H (2018) Automatic acoustic detection of birds through deep learning: The first Bird Audio Detection challenge. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 10 (3): 368-380. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210x. 13103