The Sonoran Desert is full of wildlife. These 3D scans could help secure that future

PHOENIX — It was around 6:30 a.m. when Saguaro fell and the group chat lit up.

LiDAR scanners (the same technology that allows self-driving cars to create 3D maps of their environments) have been capturing the giant cactus’ daily evolution for six months. In February 2024, they recorded the colossus pulsating with life force, then tipping and eventually collapsing in Arizona’s vast Sonoran Desert.

Laura Spalding Best, senior director of exhibitions at Phoenix’s Desert Botanical Garden, which commissioned the project, said her WhatsApp chats were filled with researchers, technicians and artists who were scanning plants as part of a years-long art and data project.

“It was very emotional and meaningful for everyone. [There] It was such an excitement. But at the same time, it was very sad,” Best said. “And that’s what this video encapsulates. You can see it’s degraded, but in this environment it’s still breathing life into everything around it.”

The video Best explains is part of a new art exhibition being held at the gardens.Frame rate: Desert Pulse,” A collaboration with ScanLAB Projects, a tech-savvy artist group based in London. It consists of detailed 3D scans of Arizona’s unique desert landscape, featuring the iconic saguaro and other cacti such as prickly pear, ocotillo, and cholla. It is also known as the “jumping cactus” because its paws have the mysterious ability to stick to passersby.

But the article also documents housing developments sprouting on the edge of the desert, dairy farms filled with cows, and Chase Field packed with baseball fans on Opening Day for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

“You have something like a target. [parking lot] And landfills will hopefully make us question some of the slightly less sustainable things we’re doing as a species,” said Matthew Shaw, co-founder of ScanLAB Projects.

Images of desert plants are projected in a loop onto a giant screen set up outdoors among the plants in the garden. It is also displayed in a room with screens on the walls, floor and ceiling, allowing people to immerse themselves in the art. The video is supported by a lively soundtrack composed by Pascal Wise, using materials found primarily in the desert, such as saguaro thorns. Shaw said the effect is both a celebration of the Sonoran Desert and a wake-up call about humans’ impact on it.

science in art

These 3D images are captured over time by a scanner that fires millions of laser pulses across the landscape.

“They reflect off every surface they touch, creating a perfect 3D model of the space,” Shaw says. The engineers repeated the process every day for a year.

The scan showed the cactus absorbing water, expanding, and stretching its arms skyward. They recorded desert sands that were moved by humans and animals. Pebbles twitched, branches swayed, entire plants swayed, weeds sprang up and withered and withered.

“I don’t think we could have imagined [the desert] It will be filled with as much life as we could find,” Shaw said.

These LIDAR scans created billions of data points (they call it “digital dust”) that garden scientists can use for conservation efforts.

“Because of the nature of this being a data-driven artwork, and because we are a data-driven institution, we now have an incredible growth record that you would never get by going to the same site every day,” Best said.

What can we learn from this information?

“In some ways, it’s only limited by our imaginations,” said Kim McCue, the zoo’s vice president and chief research officer.

McCue has already observed how agave, a rosette-shaped succulent, folds and unfolds its leaves over several days.

“(We) never thought agave would do that,” McCue said.

“The question is, does this have an adaptive purpose? Does opening and closing the rosette, the agave leaf, protect the leaf from heat?” she added.

Ultimately, this data could lead to better conservation efforts, but unearthing the nuggets of information could take years.

There is precedent for this. Previous artwork by ScanLAB Studio scientific papers Information about coastal erosion in the UK that can be used to improve the protection of coastal infrastructure.

This fallen saguaro was a defining moment for those involved in the project. Over a period of six months, lasers filmed the cacti as they fell, fed surrounding wildlife, and then shriveled back up into the desert landscape.

“One of the interesting things about lasers is that the way they reflect off a surface can represent things like the amount of water that’s under the skin. So for this saguaro, that could be really, really fascinating,” Shaw said.

These scans could provide valuable information to scientists trying to understand why giants succumb to the desert and how to protect them.