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LUMI powering digital twins: Transforming biodiversity science

12.12.2025

Biodiversity is the foundation of life on Earth. To protect it, we need innovative tools that guide science-based decisions. The BioDT project introduced digital twins into biodiversity science, helping Europe respond more quickly to global biodiversity and climate challenges.

Biodiversity supports food security, medicine, cultural values, and ecosystem resilience in the face of global change. Yet biodiversity is under increasing pressure from climate change, land-use shifts, and other human impacts. To protect it, we need better data, advanced modelling, and innovative tools that can guide science-based decisions.

Traditionally, biodiversity research has relied on relatively modest computing resources. But as data volumes grow and the need for predictive modelling intensifies, demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and sophisticated simulation methods increases in the field. This also creates a higher need for harmonised, open, and quality-controlled data, which is essential for monitoring ecosystem health and informing policy.

Digital twins help understand how ecosystems respond to environmental pressures

Digital twin (DT) projects push the limits of Earth, climate, and biodiversity sciences to provide new tools for research and decision-making by developing digital twins that mimic and predict aspects of biodiversity dynamics, climatic conditions, and extreme events.

Funded under the Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Actions framework, the BioDT project brought the concept of digital twins to biodiversity research. Over the course of three years, CSC coordinated BioDT in a genuinely collaborative effort involving 21 other committed partners across Europe.

BioDT developed nine prototype DTs (pDTs) addressing four major biodiversity topics:

  1. Species responses to environmental change
  2. Dynamics and threats from and for species of policy concern
  3. Species interacting with each other and with humans
  4. Genetically detected biodiversity

The pDTs allow users to, e.g. simulate forest and grassland productivity under climate and management scenarios, understand bee population dynamics and estimate honey production, map the cultural and biodiversity value of a national park, and map populations of climate-resilient wild crop relatives.

These prototypes leverage EuroHPC supercomputers like LUMI in Finland and Karolina in the Czech Republic, as well as national computing resources, to run detailed simulations that were previously impossible.

Citizen science meets AI

One highlight of BioDT is its integration of citizen science and artificial intelligence. A national-scale bird-monitoring campaign in Finland collected over 14.5 million bird-song records, with species identified using AI models.

This data from the hugely popular Spring of Migratory Birds (Muuttolintujen kevät in Finnish) mobile app streams into DTs daily, enabling near-real-time visualisation of bird observations and distribution while engaging the public in biodiversity science.

Collaboration is key: integrating leading research infrastructures

BioDT’s success is rooted in strong partnerships with major European research infrastructures, including GBIF, LifeWatch, and eLTER. These collaborations ensure seamless data integration and adherence to FAIR principles, creating a robust foundation for biodiversity modelling.

– Looking ahead, BioDT creates strategic opportunities for scaling digital twin development to other biodiversity topics, for strengthening research visibility and infrastructure across Europe and the world, and to support global biodiversity and climate strategies, says Damien Lecarpentier, Director of International Collaboration & Partnerships at CSC.

– BioDT has demonstrated that digital twins can transform biodiversity science. By combining advanced modelling, open data, and HPC, we can better predict and respond to biodiversity challenges. These innovations support European strategies for biodiversity and climate, promote open science, and pave the way for new tools that benefit research, policy, and society, adds Gabriela Zuquim, Scientific Coordinator at CSC.

 

illustration of Digital Twins transforming biodiveristy science. Copyright: CSC
Illustration: CSC
Front card image: Adobe Stock