Digital replica of the rainforest
Laser scans are now being used to digitally recreate one of Costa Rica's most biodiverse rainforests. It is a project of the Austrian research station "La Gamba", which aims to map the health and biodiversity of the rainforest - and could also attract sponsors.
Mapping the condition and state of the rainforest can be helpful in many areas, which is why a project was launched by the "La Gamba" research station and the Swedish measurement technology and software company Hexagon with its subsidiary R-evolution.
Using laser scans from the ground and from the air, a 3D model is to be created from which parameters such as biodiversity and species diversity can be extracted.
Life in the rainforest
Not only external features are to be measured, but also below the canopy. Acoustic and image recordings will also provide information about the diversity of living organisms in the regions to be mapped.
Soil samples will also be taken to complete the picture and report on life below ground. Great attention will also be paid to fungi, spores and bacteria.
All this data will be used to create a digital twin of the rainforest, which will be useful for closely monitoring the development of its physical brother and its state of health.
Sponsors wanted
More than 30 years ago, the association "Rainforest of the Austrians" began collecting donations for the preservation of the primeval forest. This has saved thousands of hectares from destruction.
The land was incorporated into the Piedras Blancas National Park.
The next step, in collaboration with the "La Gamba" research station of the University of Vienna, is to connect the national park with a nearby mountain rainforest.
For this "La Gamba - COBIGA Biological Corridor", existing forests and pastureland must be purchased and fallow land reforested.
The capital required for this could come from the so-called "Green Cube" initiative of the Swedish company R-evolution.
Their task is to convince companies to sponsor segments of the rainforest on a cubic meter basis.
