(Edited by Qin Zhuolun).
On January 23, technology company NTT Group teamed up with Climate Force, an Australian charity, to launch the world's first "smart rainforest" project. The use of IT technology to monitor the Daintree Rainforest aims to restore and protect the ecological environment of the rainforest.
The project has placed a large number of monitoring equipment and sensors in the rainforest, such as temperature and humidity sensors, soil moisture sensors, and instruments for monitoring rainfall and wind speed, etc., which have strong data collection and transmission capabilities, and can send the collected information to the ** processing system in real time to monitor the important indicators of the Daintree rainforest in real time.
The Daintree rainforest is being attacked by alien species such as elephant ear grass and evening primrose, which are inherently toxic, altering the structure of rainforest ecosystems and causing harm to wildlife. The main vegetation of the Daintree Rainforest includes Australian pine, golden needle wood and various eucalyptus trees endemic to tropical rainforests. As a rare shrub, the increase and decrease of the number of goldenrod directly reflects the health status of the forest ecological environment. These trees provide a dense canopy for the rainforest, providing habitat for rare local animals such as great winged bats and insectivorous hornbills.
In the Smart Rainforest project, sensors meticulously record the growth rate of these plants, their leaf density, and their response to environmental changes. By monitoring plant adaptation to environmental factors, researchers are able to better understand the long-term effects of environmental factors on rainforest ecosystems. Another major focus of the project is to monitor the threat of alien species to rainforest ecosystems, with sensors and monitoring equipment closely tracking the spread of elephant ear and evening primrose, including ranges, growth rates and reproductive patterns.
Barney Swan, CEO and co-founder of Climate Force, said that the implementation of the "smart rainforest" can detect environmental threats to the Daintree rainforest in a timely manner, and researchers can develop more effective conservation measures and strategies based on the monitoring results.
Bob Pryor, CEO of NTT Group, said: "The goal of the Smart Rainforest Project is to develop replicable models of environmental restoration and foster resilient ecosystems in Daintree and beyond. "In the future, smart rainforest technology is expected to be used in many tropical rainforest regions around the world, such as the Amazon rainforest, the Congo Basin in Central Africa, and the tropical rainforests in Southeast Asia. These areas are threatened by climate change and human activities, and smart rainforest technologies can greatly improve these fragile ecosystems.