How can new technologies help improve the early detection of invasive alien species and support faster management responses?
At NEOBIOTA 2026, Soria Delva from OneSTOP and Damiano Oldoni from GuardIAS presented work on two emerging tools being tested across Europe: CamAlien, a vehicle-mounted camera system using image capture and deep learning to detect invasive plants, and a cross-realm European early alert system.
The alert system builds on work developed through LIFE RIPARIAS and is being expanded through collaboration between the OneSTOP and GuardIAS projects. Using occurrence data from GBIF, it can generate automated alerts for new IAS records within selected regions, helping relevant stakeholders respond more quickly.
Both tools are currently being tested with stakeholders through Living Labs, combining technical results with user feedback to understand how they could be integrated into future IAS monitoring and management.
The work highlights the importance of improving the full data chain, from better detection tools and open data workflows to efficient and reusable alert systems.
Read the abstract: https://doi.org/10.3897/aca.9.e203289
View the slides: https://bit.ly/46LGGOK
