Technologies for marine biodiversity monitoring and mapping: A systematic review

In recent years, major technological advances have significantly improved our ability to assess the distribution and health status of marine habitats and their associated biodiversity. Yet, comprehensive overviews of how these innovations are being applied across public and private sectors remain scarce. One reason for this gap is partly due to still scarce interdisciplinary research and to the rapid pace of technological evolution, which often renders tools quickly obsolete, making it difficult for the scientific community to stay up to date. Also, despite their enormous potential, the high costs of advanced technologies still limit their accessibility and widespread use in marine monitoring. This review addresses these challenges by providing a comprehensive overview of the methodologies currently used to monitor and map marine biodiversity across diverse marine ecosystems, with a focus on technological developments from the last decade (2014–2024). By synthesizing approaches spanning marine robotics, remote sensing, and automated sensing systems, the review highlights both the expanding observational capabilities enabled by these tools and the limitations that hinder their effective operational uptake. By adopting an integrated and application-oriented perspective, this work aims to foster and pave the way for collaboration and knowledge exchange across disciplines and sectors, especially between ecologists, engineers, and stakeholders from private and public sectors, as well as to support the development of accessible, comparable, and actionable technological pathways for marine biodiversity monitoring and conservation. • First systematic review matching specific technologies to marine habitats for biodiversity Monitoring. • Underwater cameras, ROVs, and AUVs are most widely used across diverse marine habitats. • Over 56% of studies now use AI, but mainly for data processing rather than autonomous operations. • Most technologies cost under €10,000, but lack of cost transparency limits accessibility. • Autonomous systems are increasing, shifting from teleoperation to fully autonomous monitoring.