Few people particularly like going to the dentist. However, even though those dental tools, particularly scanners, might be a nuisance to us, they have been a major advantage to researching marine life. A new study from the Australian Institute of Marine Science found that ordinary dental imaging scanners can be used to track the growth of baby corals.
Both teeth and corals are calcium-based and require scanning equipment that can be used on wet surfaces. 3D dental scanners work by imaging over 100,000 points of reference on a person’s teeth in order to make a digital impression of someone’s mouth. While at the dentist, marine biologist Kate Quigley was inspired to start using dental technology on small corals in order to make the same 3D impressions. Her goal was to bring this technique to her lab as a way to model corals, without causing any further damage to them or the environment.
Our coral reefs have been under attack from warming oceans and pollution for years. Higher temperatures stress corals, which are living organisms. This pressure causes them to expel the algae contained in their tissue, causing the coral to turn white, called “bleaching.” Since the late 1990s, there have been 3 major bleaching events, and in the last 30 years, we have lost a predicted 50 percent of corals globally.
Scientists are exploring a few different treatments for preserving coral reefs. One such method is to make “coral nurseries,” or protected areas where coral can grow, and then transplant those corals into bleached areas. However, researchers have maintained that this is more of a short-term solution. Marine biologist Rebecca Albright points out that: “After all, degrading conditions are the main cause of coral decline in the first place, so until we tackle climate change, pollution and overfishing […] we are basically using a Band-Aid approach to buy reefs more time.” The stakes for restoring coral reefs are extremely high. Reefs across the world support nearly 25 percent of all marine life and almost $30 billion in goods and services, in addition to protecting coastal communities from dangerous waves and storms.
The ability to scan corals and make 3D images will make a difference as scientists continue to research saving corals, as it helps us understand how rising temperatures and stress affect their structure. The advantages of this technique, beyond its accuracy, are portability and affordability. The wands for scans can be purchased rather easily and modified to be used on corals. This method also saves a great deal of time. According to the researchers, scans that previously took upwards of 3 hours now take only 3 minutes. Previously, scientists could still make 3D models, but they were imprecise and sometimes inaccurate.
At the moment this dental technology is only used in the lab, on corals in aquariums taken from the Great Barrier Reef. In the future, those studying coral reefs hope to make the scanners waterproof, so that they can use them in the field. That being said, it is not yet clear how the lasers used for dental scanning work under the water.
While there is clearly a lot more to be done in the area of coral research, Quigley’s work stands as a great example of combining fields of study and using the technology from one area to help another. With this innovation, there are a lot more resources for the people who protect the future of our reefs.
