Name: The role of cloud tech in saving the endangered Tasmanian devil
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The role of cloud tech in saving the endangered Tasmanian devil

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he spread of coronavirus has placed a renewed emphasis on the role endangered play in the world. When it was thought , the most endangered mammal in the world as its meat and scales are thought to cure diseases, China banned the sale of the animals. This helped to bring some much-needed respite to the animal. Whilst we may still not know the true source of the coronavirus, it demonstrates that there is a need to understand endangered animals more than ever. In Australia, the University of Sydney has been working on vital genomics research into the Tasmanian Devil as part of a cross-governmental programme to save the threatened species.As well as being the inspiration for , in real life the Tasmanian Devil is a rare marsupial that is only found on the island state of Tasmania. The species is threatened by extreme climate events, such as the , which causes habitat destruction as well as a contagious cancer that causes face tumours and has reduced its population by more than 80 per cent. Dr Carolyn Hogg, senior research manager for the Australasian Wildlife Genomics Group in the Faculty of Science at the University of Sydney, has been leading the research into the Tasmanian devil. By focusing on the genome of the animals, the team aims to provide conversation managers with the necessary scientific information and insights on how best to protect them. “We are interested in how we can improve breeding and translocation recommendations to ensure that threatened species maintain genetic diversity,” explains Hogg. “The more genetic diversity a species has, the greater the ability it will have to adapt to future changes. Our global objective is to proactively promote species resilience in the face of a changing world.” In order to power this research, the University has been using ’ to speed up research and allow the team to more effectively manage funding. Before using this tech, Hogg said the research was like “working with more than a billion pieces of a jigsaw and no guide.” Since 2019, the team has been using AWS tools and computing power with the RONIN interface. This is a simple web application that allows anyone to launch complex computer resources. The tech helps to team to process, analyse and categorise all the data to build a complete picture of what they need to. Analysis that used to take months can be done in a matter of hours. managers on the ground can access this data in real time. “We can provide conservation managers with answers to their questions in a timelier manner. This is particularly important for Australia’s threatened species that tend to have short lifespans and where genetic changes can occur rapidly." Hogg’s team is able to use AWS’s tech in this way thanks to the company’s Public Dataset Program. This covers the cost of storage for publicly available scientific data for institutions such as Nasa, the UK Meteorological Office and the Hubble Space Telescope. As all this data is stored in the cloud, researchers can work on them without needing to download and store their own copies, so they’re not limited by their local storage space or computing capacity. “The University of Sydney’s Tasmanian Devil Genome project is a great example of how Australian researchers are using cloud technology and open data, to share insights with the global academic community to accelerate research outcomes,” said Ian Rouse who heads up AWS’s public sector work in Australia and New Zealand. “We are committed to working with our customers and partners to accelerate innovation, and help organisations like the University of Sydney preserve our native wildlife and environment.Mapping genomes is particularly important for scientific research, beyond the Tasmanian devil project, explains Hogg. "Genomes allow us to develop new analysis methods for species, understand differences between populations, provide information on anti-microbial peptides, which are important for future drug discoveries, provide us with knowledge on basic species biology and how species have reacted in the past to catastrophic declines."By working with new technologies and tech experts we can accelerate our research and through the AWS Public Dataset Program we can make our research easily accessible to other researchers at a global scale."AWS isn’t the only tech company that uses the cloud to help with conservation efforts. Cloud, the tech giant’s cloud arm, has been running a project for a few years with the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) to power its wildlife conservation projects across the world. tech to automatically identify species in the tens of thousands of images its cameras take in the wild every day. The automated machine learning can identify species or work out blanks in ZSL’s data in order to help the organisation know where to focus its conservation work. The automated machine learning can identify species or work out blanks in ZSL’s data in order to help the organisation know where to focus its conservation work. "As a researcher, AutoML has put some very clever machine learning algorithms, and Google Cloud computing power, at my fingertips," Oliver Warn, AXA research fellow at ZSL. "For the first time, this has allowed us to really start investigating the power of this technology for clearing the backlog of wildlife imagery we have in conservation."Sign up for exclusive newsletters, comment on stories, enter competitions and attend events.ALREADY HAVE AN ACCOUNT? NEED AN ACCOUNT?

he spread of coronavirus has placed a renewed emphasis on the role endangered play in the world. When it was thought , the most endangered mammal in the world as its meat and scales are thought to cure diseases, China banned the sale of the animals. This helped to bring some much-needed respite to the animal. Whilst we may still not know the true source of the coronavirus, it demonstrates that there is a need to understand endangered animals more than ever. In Australia, the University of Sydney has been working on vital genomics research into the Tasmanian Devil as part of a...

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Amelia Heathman

The Evening Standard (also the London Evening Standard) is a local, Russian-owned free daily newspaper, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format in London. Since 2009 it has been owned by Russian businessman Alexander Lebedev. It is the dominant local/regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London finance. Its current editor is former UK Conservative Member of Parliament and Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne. In October 2009, the paper ended a 180-year history of paid circulation and became a free newspaper, doubling its circulation as part of a change in its business plan.

The role of cloud tech in saving the endangered Tasmanian devil

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