With the increasing frequency of global trade and international travel, invasive alien species have become a significant threat to national ecological security, biosafety, and agricultural production. These “unwelcome guests”—whether weed seeds hidden in imported goods, harmful insects attached to wooden packaging materials, or illegally transported exotic pets—can disrupt local ecosystems, cause enormous economic losses, and even trigger public health risks. Therefore, strengthening border biosecurity defenses and preventing the introduction of invasive alien species have become essential components of national security.
As the first line of defense at national borders, customs authorities are actively leveraging advanced technologies to establish a comprehensive, multi-level prevention and control system for invasive alien species. Among these initiatives, the adoption of advanced 3D digitalization technologies has become a key approach to addressing the challenges faced in traditional specimen management and species identification.
Why Does Customs’ Invasive Species Prevention Require 3D Digitalization?
Traditional invasive species quarantine and identification rely heavily on physical specimen collections and the expertise of taxonomists. However, this approach faces several critical challenges in practical applications:
Limited availability of physical specimens, making resource sharing difficult
Many invasive alien species are not distributed domestically, and authoritative reference specimens required for identification are often preserved overseas or in a small number of specialized institutions, making access difficult. Even specimens collected within the country are limited in quantity and cannot fully meet the routine learning and comparison needs of frontline customs officers at ports nationwide. Remote access and sharing of physical specimens remain challenging.
Physical specimens are difficult to preserve over the long term
Insect specimens are vulnerable to pests, mold, and deterioration, while their colors and morphological characteristics may gradually change over time. Seed specimens may lose viability, and shells of mollusks may become fragile and break. The limited preservation lifespan of physical specimens makes it difficult to permanently retain valuable primary identification resources.
Shortage of professional identification experts and insufficient information from 2D images
Highly experienced taxonomic identification experts within customs systems are limited in number and are often concentrated in major cities. Traditional 2D photographs can only display one or several perspectives of a specimen and cannot fully capture critical three-dimensional characteristics, such as insect wing vein branching angles, microscopic seed surface patterns, or shell spiral structures of mollusks. This may increase the risk of misidentification or missed detection.
Traditional 3D modeling technologies lack automation, intelligence, and accuracy
Although 3D modeling technologies have developed rapidly, conventional approaches such as laser scanning, structured-light scanning, and manual photogrammetry often involve complicated operations, long processing times, potential risks of specimen damage, inaccurate color reproduction, or extensive post-processing requirements. These limitations prevent their application in large-scale, routine specimen digitization for customs operations.
How Does the JLM-Lifetech 3D Digital Specimen Construction System Provide Solutions?
To address these challenges, the JLM-Lifetech 3D Digital Specimen Rapid Construction System provides an efficient and innovative solution for invasive species prevention and control in customs applications.
Integrating high-precision optical imaging arrays, automated image acquisition technology, and intelligent 3D reconstruction algorithms, the system simplifies professional-grade 3D modeling into a three-step process:
Place the specimen → Start with one click → View the 3D model
A high-fidelity, full-color 720° digital 3D model can be generated in approximately 15 minutes.
The system supports customs’ invasive species prevention efforts in several key ways:
Automated and Efficient Creation of 3D Digital Models for Multiple Species
The system is designed to accommodate a wide range of quarantine specimens commonly encountered by customs, including weed seeds, harmful insects, mollusks, resource plants, and exotic pets (such as beetles and lizards). It supports specimen sizes ranging from 0.5 cm to 15 cm.
From specimen placement to model generation, the entire process requires no manual intervention. This greatly improves specimen digitization efficiency and enables the large-scale, continuous development of digital specimen libraries.
High-Fidelity Reconstruction of Physical Specimen Details
With its unique lens array and optical field design, the system captures complete 720° information of specimens in a single imaging process, without the need for parameter adjustments or specimen rotation, achieving truly non-destructive data acquisition.
The system accurately reproduces critical taxonomic features, including:
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Insect wing vein structures
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Surface textures and folds
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Seed hilum morphology
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Shell patterns and sculptural details
These high-resolution digital models provide powerful data support for accurate species identification.
Application Example
The giant African snail is a globally recognized quarantine pest and is classified as a Category II quarantine harmful organism in China. It can feed on more than 500 plant species and transmit diseases such as tuberculosis and eosinophilic meningitis, posing significant ecological and health risks.
Traditional 2D images often fail to accurately represent its three-dimensional morphological characteristics, creating challenges for morphological identification at border checkpoints.
The JLM-Lifetech 3D Digital Specimen Rapid Construction System enables non-destructive scanning of intercepted giant African snails and similar species, generating high-fidelity 720° digital models. These models permanently preserve key morphological identification features.
By establishing a digital comparison database of similar species, customs personnel across different regions can access and compare specimens online, enabling nationwide sharing of identification expertise and experience.
Effectively Addressing the Shortage of Physical Specimen Resources in Customs
Digital 3D models can be permanently preserved, infinitely replicated, and accessed anytime.
By establishing a unified digital specimen library, customs officers at ports across the country can remotely access high-fidelity 3D models through online platforms for identification comparison and professional training.
This breaks the limitations of geography and time, enables resource sharing, and significantly reduces the challenges caused by limited physical specimens and insufficient expert availability.
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Text descriptions
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2D images
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3D models
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Other multidimensional biological data
to create a comprehensive digital specimen management system.
Expanding Applications Through 3D Printing Technology
The system outputs universal OBJ-format 3D models that can be directly used for 3D printing.
This allows valuable digital specimens to be transformed into highly realistic physical replicas, supporting a wide range of applications:
Quarantine identification and scientific research
Provide frontline customs officers with accessible physical teaching specimens to support daily identification training.
Customs professional training
Create standardized teaching materials to improve invasive species recognition capabilities among personnel.
Digital specimen library development
Enhance and enrich biological resource databases within customs systems.
Public science education
Display realistic replica specimens during customs open days, at inspection facilities, and in public exhibitions to vividly demonstrate the risks of invasive species and increase public awareness of biosecurity protection.
From genetic resource repositories on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to border checkpoints across China, the JLM-Lifetech 3D Digital Specimen Rapid Construction System is creating value across diverse fields with its core capabilities of non-destructive acquisition, high efficiency, and high-fidelity reconstruction.
It not only preserves nature’s valuable biological resources but also strengthens national biosecurity defenses and safeguards ecological security.
