The Cutting Edge

March 2, 2023 10:42 AM

How Drones are helping in the battle against Plant Extinction. "Ben Nyberg stood on a knife-edge ridge along Hawaii’s Nā Pali Coast, his eyes scouring the leafy recesses of the neighboring red-rock ridges. It was quiet, if not for a faint buzzing of a drone flying among flocks of curious white-tailed tropicbirds. Nyberg steered the drone closer toward the opposing ridge, scanning the iPad in his hands, which acted as a viewfinder. Then, he saw it. Wilkesia hobdyi. Its tufted bright green leaves stood out from other plants clinging to the cliff, appearing like something out of a Dr. Seuss book." This is a beautifully illustrated and photographed essay about using drones to find, document and preserve endangered plants. Of note, a robotic arm that delicately cuts samples for study and cultivation.

"Hurricane discovery: Wailuā River yellow loosestrife (Kolokolo kuahiwi)

This plant was first discovered in 1992 when Hurricane Iniki ripped the plant off of the tall cliffs above the Wailuā River, dropping it to the valley bottom. At the time, botanists counted 50 individuals in just one population. The drone turned up another 275 plants in two populations."

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"Known as Mamba (Multi-Use Aerial Manipulator Bidirectionally Actuated), the robotic arm dangles on a cable below a drone and is equipped with eight propellers and a cutting mechanism that pilots can control from a mile away. Today it’s out to sample the elusive W. hobdyi located along the steep cliffs of the Nā Pali Coast."

posted by storybored (4 comments total)

I liked the art in this article.

I've taken enough cuttings from common houseplants to know that taking cuttings to grow new plants is a thing. But it still feels weird to me to say that sending a robot to where some plants that have been driven to the edge of extinction were successfully hiding out to cut off parts of them is helping. Even if it is, in fact, helping, which hopefully it is.
posted by aniola at 12:22 PM on March 2, 2023 [2 favorites]

Great article. I actually use a drone to go look at plants on rocky outcrops and stuff. It's a lot of fun, and the communities of plants that live there are really interesting. Plus, in these kinds of spots it is a lot easier to see the individual plants that are there, compared to a forested slope. The way they're taking cuttings is like really crazy. It's not just that these spots are remote, but often times they are really windy, too. Very impressive.
posted by snofoam at 1:13 PM on March 2, 2023

It's like something out of an alien encounter narrative. It flies up to you, hovers in place, scans you, reaches out and probes and samples you, and then flies away leaving you with nothing but stories to tell the other plants.
posted by hippybear at 2:22 PM on March 2, 2023 [2 favorites]

Great article. Seconding the appreciation of the art (and visual media) -- whimsical, pleasantly intertwined with the words.

The intro, making a contrasting case with the "old ways" of rappelling to find plant species, felt like an indirect reference to the fascinating (re-?) discovery of the Wollemi Pine in Australia, in 1994. (Re-discovery in the fact that it had only been known through the fossil records up until then, when a botanically-astute rappeller noticed this distinctive plant while exploring isolated canyons)

Living in Chicago, giving tours for the Garfield Park Conservatory, the story about the Wollemi Pine (as I show off the one in our collection) is a tour highlight -- major botanical discovery within the last 30 years!! It really generates an audience reaction, and for sure I am going to relate this article in my future tours. But first, I need to walk our collection and see if there's any overlap (if not at the species level, at the order/family level) with the plants in the article and the plants in our collection. Here in Chicago, our collection is not too Hawaiian-oriented... our pineapples don't count!
posted by Theophrastus Johnson at 4:16 PM on March 3, 2023 [1 favorite]