Regular dentist tools can help with more than oral health. A new study found that a dental imaging scanner also works as a portable device for tracking the growth of baby corals.
Heat stress kills mature coral reefs and inhibits their regrowth. “Growth, reproduction and survival are the main factors that are constantly being looked at in terms of how healthy a reef is,” said Kate Quigley, a marine biologist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science. By modeling baby corals in his 3D, researchers can track coral branching, the development of complex shapes, and reaching reproductive size. If the coral grows too slowly in harsh water conditions, the reef will not recover.
Modeling this tiny coral in 3D is difficult. Researchers can CT scan them, dip them in wax, or painstakingly piece together measurements from commercial 3D scanners, but these methods can be slow and have low resolution. There is a nature. One day, when Quigley’s dentist was using a wand-like device that focused light to create detailed 3D models of his teeth, Quigley had an idea. She reasoned that if the device could measure the details of the gaps in the chopper, it should be able to scan even tiny living corals. Both teeth and corals are calcium-based and moist.
About the research published in Ecology and Evolutionary Methods, Quigley tested the scan wand and found that it provided an inexpensive, easy, and portable method for modeling coral babies at significantly faster speeds and higher resolution than currently available techniques. This tool will allow scientists to more easily examine how coral species withstand stress.
“Baby corals are essential for reef recovery and recovery from disturbances such as hurricanes and heat waves. “It’s the stage that we know the least about,” says Joshua Maddin, a researcher at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, who was not involved in the study. It’s a great example of applying a developed and mature technology to coral reef science.”
