DigiWald - Development of a digital nose for early detection of tree diseases

Climate change is a challenge for our forests. In recent years, there has been an increase in large windthrow events, storm calamities and dry periods. Due to climate change, emerging diseases are threatening our forests. Automated decision making and predictive analytics through artificial intelligence can help track climate change associated ecological changes, such as increased bark beetle populations in drought-stressed spruce trees. The aim of the project is to develop a digital nose (machine "smelling") that is able to detect stress-induced volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from trees and/or pheromones from pests using artificial intelligence and thus act as an early warning system for tree diseases. VOCs provide functional information about the growth, defences and health status of plants and offer the possibility to monitor plant vigour in a non-invasive way. Pheromones provide information about the activity and mating behaviour of the beetle population. The AI system not only relies on