Samenvatting
Zoological records and reviews -- the systematic documentation, curation, and synthesis of knowledge about animal
diversity, distribution, ecology, and conservation status -- form the foundational knowledge infrastructure upon which all
zoological research, biodiversity assessment, and wildlife management depend. Yet this infrastructure faces
unprecedented challenges alongside extraordinary opportunities: the volume of primary zoological literature has grown to
over 180,000 publications annually, exceeding human capacity for comprehensive synthesis; taxonomic records remain
incomplete for the vast majority of described species; digital transformation has created both powerful new tools for
literature mining, automated synthesis, and open data aggregation, and new risks of data quality degradation, predatory
publishing, and reproducibility failure; and the demands of international biodiversity policy frameworks --
Kunming-Montreal GBF, EU Nature Restoration Law, EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 -- for timely, comprehensive, and
policy-relevant zoological evidence have never been greater. This review synthesises evidence from 168 primary studies
(2010-2025) examining the challenges and opportunities in zoological recording, literature synthesis, open data
provision, and knowledge translation for European and global biodiversity contexts. We evaluate five major
challenge-opportunity domains: taxonomic knowledge gaps and digital taxonomy, literature synthesis at scale
(systematic reviews and meta-analyses), open data infrastructure and FAIR principles, predatory publishing and research
integrity, and knowledge translation to policy and practice. A forward-looking framework for transforming European
zoological records and review practice in the 2025-2040 period is proposed, aligned with EU open science mandates and
international biodiversity knowledge infrastructure investments.