As our environment struggles to adapt to a rapidly changing climate, 3D printing is helping to save threatened species.
Earlier this year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its Sixth Assessment Report that outlined a stark future for Earth if we cannot avoid global warming of 2 °C. As a result, now more than ever, scientists are trying to find ways to mitigate the climate crisis and protect the world’s most vulnerable species. One innovative solution being explored is the use of 3D printing to help protect the environment.
3D printing started to gain popularity in the 1980s, and since then, it has impacted fields as diverse as manufacturing and medicine. Engineers and scientists are using 3D printing to create everything from custom braces and medical devices to automotive and aerospace manufacturing parts. But the applications of additive manufacturing expand beyond consumer needs, and researchers are now beginning to see the technology’s potential to improve conservation efforts and ecosystems threatened by climate change.
Using 3D Printing to Protect Coral Reefs
Although commonly mistaken for plants, corals are actually invertebrate animals. Just like worms, jellyfish, insects and crabs, corals do not have a backbone. Currently, coral covers about 1 percent of the ocean floor but is home to more than 25 percent of fish and other marine organisms. Coral reef health is essential for marine ecosystems, and about one billion people rely on reefs for their livelihoods through the tourism industry and fisheries. Scientists predict that at the current rate of loss, all coral reef habitats could be eliminated by 2100.
Hong Kong boasts some of the most incredible biodiversity of any city in Asia. The ocean surrounding Hong Kong includes more hard coral species than the Caribbean, but these essential organisms are threatened by pollution and urban development.
To try to combat biodiversity loss and facilitate coral growth, two scientists at Hong Kong University cofounded archiREEF in 2020. A marine biology professor, David Baker, and Vriko Yu, a PhD student, created the company to produce 3D-printed terracotta tiles specifically designed to improve coral growth.
Baker and Yu are currently focusing their conservation efforts on the Hoi Ha Wan Marine Park. Although it is now a protected area, Hoi Ha Wan was once mined for construction materials, leading to significant damage to the seafloor.
To restore coral in the protected area, Baker and Yu first needed to create a “new” seafloor to help the coral grow. So, in the summer of 2020, as part of archiREEF, Baker and Yu lead the installation of 130 terracotta tiles in Hoi Ha Wan Marine Park. The tiles themselves mimic the shape of “brain coral” to attract marine life and help nascent corals grow upward. The archiREEF design is modular, and the algorithm underpinning its production can easily create thousands of unique tiles to mimic the natural diversity of the ocean floor.
archiREEF distinguishes itself from other artificial reef efforts as its tiles are designed to foster coral growth and ultimately erode over time. In contrast, conventional artificial reefs are designed to replace coral as a habitat for marine organisms.
The company will continue to monitor the Hoi Ha Wan site for at least two years before scaling its conservation efforts. However, the initial results are promising, with about four times more coral surviving on archiREEF’s terracotta tiles than on conventional artificial reefs. Baker and Yu are also investigating alternative materials for their 3D-printed tiles, as making clay can be expensive and potentially damaging to the environment.
However, archiREEF isn’t the only company interested in using 3D printing to save coral populations. The Fabien Cousteau Ocean Learning Center generates 3D-printed coral to create alternative habitats for delicate marine ecosystems losing their homes as natural coral reefs die off.
3D Printing to Help Support Bee Populations
Unfortunately, coral reefs are not the only living things threatened by climate change. Bee populations are struggling to adapt to urban sprawl, rising temperatures, and a widespread reduction in wildflowers. All plants on Earth rely on bees and other pollinators for their survival, and modern agriculture is entirely dependent on healthy bee populations for its success. With dwindling bee populations, scientists are raising the alarm about the future of food production.
3D printing may offer a solution to support natural populations. For example, in Brisbane, Australia, an artist created the “Synthetic Pollenizer,” a 3D-printed flower to help protect bees. The artist spent years developing the prototype so that it would blend in with the natural environment and deliver both pollen and nectar to any bees that land on the flower. As a result, the Pollenizer is both safe and effective as an alternative food source for bees, especially in urban environments, where it can help protect the insects from poisonous herbicides, pesticides and infections.
Researchers at the Auckland University of Technology have experimented with 3D-printed honeycombs to support bee populations. Using sound waves, the researchers used software that analyzed the “sound” of the interior of a honeycomb and translated it into a custom design for 3D printing. The researchers found that 3D-printed honeycombs were readily utilized by bee populations, along with naturally produced honeycombs, to store honey. The next step is to print the custom honeycomb using beeswax to seamlessly integrate with a natural honeycomb and help bees focus on collecting nectar and producing honey. The 3D-printed honeycomb made by the researchers would typically take about 60,000 bees one week to produce. However, with established honeycombs in place, the bees can focus on pollination and honey production.
Accelerating Ecology Research with 3D Printing
In ecology and conservation science, researchers are often limited in their experiments as animals cannot necessarily be manipulated to understand how certain traits affect their biology. For example, how can you determine whether an animal’s coloration affects its interactions with the environment if you cannot change its color? Thanks to 3D printing, these experiments are now becoming possible.
Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin used 3D printing to explore how the color of poisonous frogs affects their interactions with other frogs. Using a 3D-printed model, the researchers were able to modify the coloration of the frog to determine how it affects the amphibian’s overall biology. These studies are crucial to understanding the dynamics of different animal communities and can assist with conservation efforts. Other researchers used a 3D-printed model of the black widow spider to confirm that the red hourglass shape on the spider’s back is vital to preventing predation.
3D printing can also help researchers link form to function through the study of biomechanics and fluid dynamics. These studies are essential for advances in manufacturing, as biology can inspire innovative new materials. For example, researchers used 3D-printed shark skin to study how the small, tooth-like shapes on the skin—denticles—affect fluid dynamics. With 3D printing, the authors could manipulate the size and distribution of the denticles to determine how they affect drag and antifouling properties for future applications in marine manufacturing.
Combating Climate Change with 3D Printing
As climate change decimates global ecosystems, scientists are being forced to shift from prevention to intervention in their efforts to protect our environment. The widespread accessibility and inexpensive process of 3D printing is helping researchers study the environment and develop solutions for conservation biology. Beyond ecological applications, 3D printing is also being used to monitor pollution, improve air and water filtration, and even produce renewable energy.
Although 3D printing is not without its adverse effects on the environment, the rapidly evolving technology continues to see improvements for customization and available printing materials. Thus, when it comes to custom solutions to environmental problems, we will likely continue to see 3D printing help scientists combat some of the worst effects of climate change in the near future.
