21.11.2024 | Beate Kittl / ETH Zürich | WSL News
The XPRIZE Rainforest competition acknowledged a team with participation of the WSL for its development and deployment of novel, autonomous technologies that enable near real-time insights about biodiversity.
Stefano Mintchev's and Loïc Pellissier’s group, which conducts research at ETH Zurich and WSL, used autonomous technologies in Brazil to document rainforest biodiversity non-destructively. Key innovations included drones capable to autonomously collecting samples of environmental DNA – genetic traces of animal and plant species – from the branches, as well as methods for image and sound recording from the forest canopy.
The prize also highlights the team’s commitment to the co-development of biodiversity monitoring technologies with Indigenous Peoples and local communities..
Among other things, the award recognises how the researchers have involved indigenous peoples and local communities in the research.
Read more: ETH Zurich press release
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