2021-07-20 01:35:54 GMT2021-07-20 09:35:54(Beijing Time) Xinhua English WELLINGTON, July 20 (Xinhua) -- A combination of artificial intelligence and scientific ingenuity looks set to be the next step forward in protecting lakes and rivers from invasive aquatic weeds, New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) said Tuesday. Management and detection of invasive submerged weeds costs millions of dollars annually, but NIWA researchers have developed a way to detect and identify submerged weeds. This technology will enable agencies to survey far larger areas more efficiently than is currently possible, and potentially lead much faster responses to new incursions.