Ecologists Use Latest Dental Scanning Technology to Study Young Coral

by Ashnah Elanchcheliyan

Dr Kate Quigley, a senior research scientist, has developed a new non-destructive method for rapidly and safely scanning coral. The discovery of this technology was inspired by a visit to the dentist. She seemed to notice that there were a lot of similarities between coral and our teeth. They are both calcium-based and require measuring tools that can withstand wet surfaces. 

Coral reefs are among the planet's most productive ecosystems and offer vital protective and nutritional functions to people all around the world. These significant ecosystems have experienced substantial declines in recent decades, which has sparked a frenzy of research around their basic biology and restoration of these ecosystems. Scientists are better able to predict ecological changes and the impact of disturbance. Reconstructing coral 3D models reveals insights into their health and response to pressures like rising temperatures or acidification.

The produced product is a wand and it is used to scan very small baby corals, building the 3D measurements of the corals at the same time. To assess the effectiveness of these dental scanners, a researcher measured juvenile corals at the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences National Sea Simulator. The coral, from the Great Barrier Relief, was temporarily removed from their indoor aquarium and their surface area and volume was recorded before being returned to the tanks. The time needed to perform such measurements was reduced by 99%, taking an average of less than three minutes to scan and generate a model of each individual coral as opposed to nearly four hours with previous methods.

At present, this dental technology can only be used to perform measurements out of the water. The hardware is not waterproof as the scanner relies on confocal laser technology. One of the researchers said that “Potentially the scanner could be made completely waterproof. However, it is unclear how well the laser technology would work completely submerged underwater. We have taken this technology on the boat before and brought up wild and laboratory-reared corals for measurement, so we are getting there!”