FaunaPhotonics
Novel monitoring technique that will rapidly advance scientific research, agriculture and forestry.
Scientists have estimated that there are some 10 quintillion insects alive at any point in time that have massive negative and positive effects on society. Insect borne diseases kill well over a million people each year, and infects tens of millions more. Agricultural insect pests destroy tens of billions of dollars worth of crops and livestock. Simultaneously, insects pollinate 75% of crop species (e.g. 30% of all food consumed by humans is directly pollinated by bees). Also, many insect species are key indicators of the wellbeing of ecosystems. Until now, manual monitoring techniques such as traps have been used to understand insects. FaunaPhotonics, provides novel remote sensing laser radar technology that can monitor insects at 10 km range. This revolutionizing tool provides researchers with a new method to understand ecology and biodiversity. Agriculture and forestry workers will be able to improve integrated pest management strategies to significantly reduce use of pesticides.