Could we upload the entire natural world to a digital realm, with complex ecosystem interactions quantified by equations and data exchanges? Chloe Moriarty delves into the prospect of digitising our environments and what it might mean for the future.
I was doing research for a university assignment earlier this year when I came across a paper titled ‘The Internet of Nature: How taking nature online can shape urban ecosystems’. The researchers were broadly discussing the use of remote sensing and internet networks in digitising urban nature, through the lens of improving ecosystem management. It was a concept I had never considered before- why would we want to take something inherently natural and integrate it with the digital realm to create an internet map of a world that we only have to look outside to see? Admittedly, the establishment of ‘smart’ nature was not something that made much sense to me.
Some scientists are researching the potential for urban nature to be digitally mapped in order to create more sustainably-managed cities. Credits: Prototyperspective via Wikimedia Commons.
Regardless of my initial dubiousness, my curiosity had been piqued; the paper persisted in my mind for a long time. After it became clear that this was not something I could easily forget, I decided that it warranted more research. Could we really digitise a tree? A forest? An ecosystem? What is the scale of this technology - are the possibilities limitless? Would we ever truly know the intricacies of these complex systems and be able to confidently map their every interaction? Is it hubristic to believe we might be able to replicate such complexity? Above all, if we could do this, should we do it?
This article aims to introduce you to the world of ‘smart’ nature, exploring how far away we might be from digital deserts and online oceans, and considering what this might mean for the future of science and society.
Understanding Nature Through Technology
To some extent, we have already built a good picture of Earth’s ecosystems through technological means, creating a form of ‘sixth sense’ that scientists can use to better understand our natural world. On land, in the sea, and in space there are instruments continuously and carefully monitoring our changing planet. Satellites are equipped with sensors that can measure carbon fluxes from space, drones are increasingly flown into unreachable areas to provide new insights into unfamiliar terrain, and Geographic Information System (GIS) softwares are used to track the world’s largest animal migrations. Data collection isn’t just reserved for scientists either, with citizen science growing in popularity as a more efficient method of proliferating data about local issues including river health or species abundance; contributing to this digital map of the world is now as simple as recording a species that you’ve seen in an app on your phone.
Satellite imagery can be used to monitor the retreat of glaciers worldwide as a response to rising global temperatures. Credits: European Space Agency via Wikimedia Commons.
Technologically monitoring the Earth in this way generates millions of pieces of data each day, uploaded into vast digital networks and published in comprehensive studies to further scientific knowledge. This colossal influx of data helps provide insights into our world both past and present, from analysing the pollen present in ancient forests to recording the rumblings of a volcano awakening from its centuries-long slumber. All of this information helps us to develop a deeper understanding of the world, unlocking new opportunities to better manage these ecosystems.
Recreating Nature in the Digital Realm
What we have already achieved in the digitisation of our world is an impressive display of human ingenuity and innovation. However, mapping nature’s existence in a digital dimension seems a significant leap beyond what has already been conceived and accomplished. One place where this concept has begun to be explored is in ‘smart forests’, termed the ‘Internet of Trees’. One paper by Gabrys (2020) discusses how a web of sensing technologies can observe the way that trees interact with one another and with other components of the forest ecosystem during processes such as photosynthesis or evapotranspiration. The outbreak of fires is carefully monitored by cameras, sending signals to local forest managers who act rapidly to prevent wildfire spread; technology goes so far in being able to put out the fires unassisted if they’re caught quickly enough. Human activity can be overseen in a similar way, with satellites and drones capturing illegal loggers as they traverse the forests in search of their next place to make money. All of these constant data sources allow the ecosystem to be monitored remotely; ‘Big Brother’ watches over the forest in our physical absence.
Remote sensing is helping policymakers to tackle illegal deforestation in some of the world’s most vulnerable rainforests. Credits: Ibama via Wikimedia Commons.
These technologies are not novel in forests, but the scale over which they now operate is increasing expeditiously. Even in a forest, it is hard to conceive the amount of sensors and data points that would be needed to produce a true digital replica of it. Each individual leaf, branch and root of each tree engages in its own processes of nutrient cycling or gaseous exchange, silently transferring energy around the system. From the forest floor to the height of the canopy, a myriad of plants, animals, and fungi add to the complexity of life and death, absorbing and releasing nutrients as they grow, reproduce, and perish. Despite technological advancements, our knowledge of these systems does not presently meet the near-enlightenment required to be able to interpret all of this data and make choices about how to manage the forest from the digital realm; beyond this, problems remain in the creation of an ‘Internet of Nature’.
Beckoning in a New Frontier in Science
The establishment of digital nature relies on one thing- the mapping of tangible elements, like the quantities of gas exchanged or volume of water running through a river. What is missing from these models, however, will forever prevent online replicas from becoming multi-dimensional. As Gabrys pointed out in her paper, digitising forests erases the cultural and indigenous elements of them; in stripping ecosystems back to their strictly scientific elements, the essence of real life is omitted. Similarly, the creation of any ‘smart’ nature or cities may capture human activity in pictures, but it will never represent the economic, social, or governmental factors that may be driving those activities. In attempting to manage ecosystems without these details, it is as though trying to interpret a puzzle with some of the key pieces missing- you can do it, but not very effectively.
Creating a digital version of forests without including the peoples and cultures that inhabit them may not paint an accurate picture of the ecosystem. Credits: Unknown Author via Wikimedia Commons.
There is also the question of how comfortable we are with reducing nature to a string of numbers and processes; with assuming that we could develop omniscience through a technological ‘sixth sense’. Moreover, with the simultaneous evolution of ‘smart’ cities, how comfortable are we as individuals with being steadily watched and recorded as we go about our lives? Would we consider this the most effective way to manage our nature, or our societies?
It is undeniable that the advancement of remote sensing technology could be an incredibly powerful tool in furthering our understanding of the world around us and in turn assisting us to make more informed decisions about the stewardship of our planet. Yet it comes with caveats, and its rapid evolution is far outpacing public awareness of these technologies and their benefits and pitfalls. We are carrying society into an increasingly digital era, evolving our communications and developing new ways to build, and destroy, the world. Is it therefore only natural that nature itself would get swept away in this digitisation? Or is the ‘Internet of Nature’ a concept that should have never bled out of dystopian fiction into the real world?
I leave you to consider the same question that I presented at the beginning of this article. If we could entirely replicate nature in the digital realm, should we do it?
Really interesting piece!