Realising the potential of ecological digital twins as decision support tools

Ecological digital twins are continually updating models used for decision-making. Current progress in ecological digital twinning has focused on overcoming the technological and modelling challenges to create a continually updating system. We argue that attention should now also focus on effectively integrating digital twins into decision-making systems to inform timely action. This requires the direct inclusion of end users and greater focus on the socio-political context. We outline challenges faced in developing such ‘translational’ digital twins from our own experience and translate recommendations for best practice from the transdisciplinary research literature. We champion co-creation as a powerful approach for future translational digital twin projects, especially in larger and more complex research teams.