The semi-final problem
Every crew had 72 hours in complete to finish their process: 24 hours to gather samples and 48 hours to research the findings and compile a report. The problem was to determine as many species of vegetation and animals as doable throughout an space of 100 hectares with out truly setting foot within the jungle.
Over 24 hours, the ETH BiodivX crew’s drone scanned the rainforest 41 occasions, gathering 50 samples of environmental DNA (eDNA). These are DNA traces that residing beings go away behind of their habitat – via excretions or the lack of pores and skin and hair particles, for instance.
By gathering eDNA, the presence of various species in a given space might be detected. Utilizing drones, the ETH BiodivX crew collected three various kinds of eDNA samples: water, air, and floor samples.
To gather the floor samples, the researchers developed a probe that might take swabs from all kinds of surfaces. This was connected to a drone and could possibly be lowered deep into the rainforest by a winch.
Within the Masoala Rainforest, researchers can follow navigating the drones via the jungle. Picture credit score: Dominik Ryser / Zoo Zurich
“This method permits us to pattern environmental DNA from contained in the tree cover, which might in any other case be not possible to entry,” explains ETH Professor Stefano Mintchev, a member of the ETH BiodivX crew.
A rover and a drone, developed by researchers from the College of Aarhus and TU-Delft, had been additionally used in the course of the semi-finals. Throughout their deployment within the rainforest, these autonomous units recorded a complete of 130 gigabytes of video and audio knowledge.
Citizen scientists and AI algorithms, co-led and deployed by Zurich-based mostly non-revenue group GainForest, monitored their actions by way of a stay stream and recognized extra species.
General, greater than 12 million DNA sequences had been produced, and the crew was capable of detect a complete of 257 plant and animal species. The findings had been then compiled in a report numbering greater than 70 pages.
A drone flies via the bushes and timber of the Masoala Rainforest at Zoo Zurich. Picture credit score: Dominik Ryser / Zoo Zurich
Zoo Zurich: the best follow surroundings
The new and humid situations within the rainforest pose a major problem for the electronics used. Furthermore, sampling methods additionally needed to be practiced earlier than the researchers set off for Singapore. Luckily, the Masoala Rainforest in Zoo Zurich offered the best follow situations.
“Alongside our mission to teach, preserve nature and shield endangered species, one of many 4 core duties of a contemporary zoo is analysis. Our collaboration with ETH Zurich is a superb instance of how the Masoala Rainforest can be utilized for testing and optimizing analysis strategies earlier than deployment within the subject,” explains Dr Leyla Davis, Analysis Curator at Zoo Zurich.
The 2024 remaining
On Monday, July 24th, the six “XPRIZE Rainforest Competitors” finalists had been introduced at external pagethe ICCB 2023 conference. The intensive and long-time period work on the challenge paid off because the group ETH BiodivX made it to the ultimate spherical of the competitors.
“This achievement represents a exceptional milestone for our crew. We owe our success to the distinctive combine of people from all kinds of disciplines who contributed their concepts and various expertise from robotics, DNA sequencing, social sciences, and different fields,” declares Stefano Mintchev.
ETH-professor Kristy Deiner provides: “There couldn’t be a greater time for such a contest to deliver ahead the options wanted for serving to with the biodiversity disaster. We’re honored to be among the many finalist groups. Most significantly, we sit up for advancing our applied sciences.”
The groups that made it to the final spherical can now revise their applied sciences once more earlier than continuing to the finale in 2024.
Supply: ETH Zurich
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