AI i.e. Artificial Intelligence is being used for a unique discovery. Scientists are taking its help to find a female partner for a nearly extinct male plant. This plant is no less special in itself, as it has been called the ‘loneliest plant in the world’. It is being said that this plant is even older than the dinosaur era.
E. woodii is a member of the cycads, which are the oldest seed bearing plants on earth. They are even older than the dinosaurs. Unfortunately, this species is extinct in the wild, the last species was found in the Ngoye Forest of South Africa.
It has been saved from complete extinction due to continuous propagation in botanical gardens. Scientists are preparing to increase the population again through natural reproduction, but the problem they are facing is that no one has found a female plant. A team of researchers has searched the Ngoye forest to find a female partner, which has never been fully explored before.
Only a few male trees of this species are left in the world while the search for the female tree continues. (Symbolic picture: Wikimedia Commons)
Despite the drone’s advanced camera, searching the vast 10,000-acre forest remains a daunting task. A recent survey of just 195 acres yielded a staggering 15,780 images, indicating the vast amount of data to be processed. That’s a lot of photos, so the team is analysing them with the help of AI.
Dr. Laura Cinti, who is leading the project, said that with AI, scientists are using an image recognition algorithm to identify plants by shape. They have made pictures of the plants and placed them in different conditions, so that the model can be trained to identify them. The female plant has not been found yet, while less than two percent of the forest has been explored so far.
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FIRST PUBLISHED : May 31, 2024, 20:36 IST
