TEE Lab at the Opening of the New Sustainability Gallery, Gardens by the Bay

The Tropical Ecology & Entomology Lab (TEE Lab), Asian School of Environment (ASE), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) recently had the privilege of participating in the official opening of the new Sustainability Gallery at Gardens by the Bay. We were honoured to showcase our work to distinguished guests, including President of the Republic of Singapore, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Kikkoman Corporation honorary CEO, chairman of board of directors Yuzaburo Mogi, and the dedicated team at Gardens by the Bay (GBTB) at the launch of the Sustainability Gallery.

Top left: Prof. Eleanor, explaining why automated biodiversity monitoring is crucial and how the AMBER project addresses the global challenge of declining insect populations. Top right: Ms. Wan Lin, TEE Lab project officer, demonstrating the portable AMBER device installed in the Gardens and showcasing how the system captures and processes data. Bottom left: TEE Lab PhD student, Travis Tang Zhe, sharing how bioacoustics is used to understand the soundscape around the Gardens. Bottom right: The portable AMI device currently deployed in the Gardens for real-time biodiversity monitoring.

As part of the gallery launch, the TEE Lab showcased the AMBER project—AI-assisted Monitoring of Biodiversity using Edge-processing and Remote Sensors, developed through a collaboration between the Alan Turing Institute, the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), and the Aberdeen Charitable Foundation. We demonstrated the automated technologies we are deploying within the Gardens to monitor insects, bats, and birds.  This is the first deployment in the tropics of an upgraded, smaller, and more portable system – the LepiSense developed by CEH, the LepiSense autonomously records insects throughout the night. Together with our partners we are adapting and training AI technology built in temperate regions to classify and identify tropical insects, providing insights into tropical nocturnal biodiversity that would have been impossible just a few years ago.

Our booths at the event showcasing the AMBER project.

We also shared how the TEE Lab, together with UKCEH and GBTB, is working toward long-term monitoring of Singapore’s insect populations, which is an essential step as we seek to understand how biodiversity responds to rapid urbanisation and climate change. It was incredibly meaningful to see the guests engaged with the system, asking questions, and expressing excitement about the potential of automated biodiversity monitoring.

A big thank you to Gardens by the Bay for the invitation and to all our collaborators for making this possible. Together, we are building tools that will help us better understand and protect the natural world.

Learn more about the project here:

• https://teelabntu.wixsite.com/home/post/upgraded-amber-system-installed-at-gardens-by-the-bay-to-enhance-insect-monitoring

• https://www.turing.ac.uk/research/research-projects/amber-ai-assisted-monitoiring-biodiversity-using-edge-processing-and

• https://www.ceh.ac.uk/our-science/projects/amber-automated-biodiversity-monitoring