Kutatók AI-t és drónokat használnak egy ritka „élő kövület” növény felkutatására
University of Southampton researcher Laura Cinti is using AI-powered drones to search for a female specimen of the E. woodii, one of the world's rarest plants. Discovered in 1895 in South Africa's Ngoye Forest, only male specimens have ever been found, making natural repopulation currently impossible. The research involves capturing tens of thousands of aerial images and training an AI model to identify the species in dense terrain that is difficult for humans to survey manually.
- Researchers used a drone to take tens of thousands of aerial photos of the Ngoye Forest.
- An AI model was trained to analyze the images and identify species that humans cannot easily detect.
- The drone has so far scanned around 195 acres, which is only 2% of the potential habitat.
- E. woodii belongs to a group of plants called cycads that are roughly 300 million years old.
- While male clones have been propagated in captivity, a female partner is required to save the species from extinction.
The E. woodii is part of a group of plants known as cycads that are around 300 million years old. Even though they’ve survived several mass extinctions, human intervention is driving them to the brink, and the university says they’re now considered “the most endangered organisms on our planet.”