Conclusions
The MIREN road survey protocol started in 2007 with a specific purpose
– to monitor non-native plant species invasions along mountain roads –
but has since then proven to be well-suited for an increasing number of
questions related to species redistributions in the fields of
biogeography, ecology and conservation biology. The protocol is
low-tech, straightforward and standardized, and can therefore be
implemented immediately to fill global gaps in biodiversity data,
especially in areas that are traditionally underrepresented in global
biodiversity studies (Nuñez et al., 2019) or in regions with scarce or
fluctuating government support for scientific research. In short, this
on-the-ground, multi-regional, simple yet effective monitoring scheme is
a perfect example of ‘Think globally, measure locally’, and has clear
capacity to bring together ecologists from around the world to generate
an even more complete picture of ongoing species redistributions in
mountains. We invite you all to join us!