All across Europe, the Alps represent one of the most biodiversity-rich and climate-sensitive environments in Europe. For both its richness and sensitivity, and because of rapid climate change, land-use shifts, and increasing human pressures, mountain environments need robust, evidence-based approaches to biodiversity protection. However, steep environmental gradients, high habitat heterogeneity, endemism, and pronounced seasonality not only shape the unique biodiversity patterns specific of the Alps, but at the same time pose methodological challenges for the biodiversity assessment and long-term monitoring on which management decisions should be based on.

The session focuses on the specific ecological characteristics of ecosystems in the Alps and their implications for biodiversity studies, monitoring design, and data interpretation. We will address current practices in biodiversity monitoring and data collection in alpine regions, including genetic monitoring, remote sensing, automated monitoring, and citizen science, as well as challenges related to data quality, harmonization, accessibility, and long-term management.

A central objective of the session is to foster exchange between scientists and practitioners, including protected area managers and representatives of environmental authorities. Contributions that demonstrate successful collaborations, co-designed monitoring schemes, or practical applications of scientific results in conservation planning and management are especially encouraged.

The session further calls for contributions aimed at establishing common, interchangeable, and scalable approaches for biodiversity monitoring across the Alps. This includes harmonized indicators, standardized protocols, and interoperable data infrastructures that enable comparison across regions and support coordinated conservation strategies.

Finally, we invite contributions highlighting the role of Long-Term Ecosystem and socio-ecological Research (LTSR) in mountain environments. Studies using long-term datasets, long-term monitoring programs, adaptive monitoring and management approaches, and methodological advances that improve the detection of trends, or the evaluation of conservation measures under ongoing environmental change are particularly welcome.