Best practices for long-term monitoring of island arthropods: insights from the Azores Islands

Long-term monitoring of biodiversity on island ecosystems is essential for understanding ecological trends, assessing anthropogenic impacts, and informing conservation strategies. Despite significant advancements, monitoring efforts are often fragmented, particularly for arthropods. Recent initiatives in the Azores Islands (Portugal, Macaronesia), have demonstrated the efficacy of standardized protocols and robust frameworks for long-term arthropod monitoring. These approaches enable consistent data collection, species identification, biodiversity assessments and indicators of change, critical for conservation and management policies.