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Open Source Solutions / Feed

This group is for anyone interested in open source technologies for ecology and conservation. We welcome contributions from both makers and users, whether active or prospective. Here, we believe that open source hardware, software, and data are key to conducting both rigorous and honorable science and research. It is a place to share novel or existing technologies, exchange resources, discuss new projects, ask for advice, find collaborators, advocate for adopting open source technologies, and share strategies for making them sustainable. Open Source Solutions naturally overlaps with existing WILDLABS groups, and we aim to embrace this overlap while maintaining our unique space for growth of Open Source Solutions as a priority in conservation science.

Group curators

discussion

10 years later, achievement unlocked! A breakthrough for sea turtle satellite tracking

Alasdair Davies

7 June 2026 1:05am

I realised today when referencing the "How Open Source Technologies Could Dramatically Reduce the Cost of Tagging Green Sea Turtles" article today that it was nearly 10...

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Jessie Oliver

16 June 2026 12:48am

This post makes me so freaking happy! Glad to have met you through conservation technology discussions all the way over here in Australia back in the early days :) I am also super excited to see your innovations continue. 

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discussion

Safe and Sound project report: Is Camtrap DP a suitable standard for (bio)acoustic data?

Julia Wiel

18 March 2026 4:17pm

Dear WILDLABS community,We are pleased to share with you the publication of the Safe and Sound project report: Is Camtrap DP a suitable...

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Kristoffer Noriel Ordoñez

12 April 2026 6:19pm

Your report on extending Camtrap DP to bioacoustics resonated with something we are just beginning to explore in Mindoro Island, Philippines.

We have ongoing camera trap deployments in interior forest habitats and are beginning to examine the acoustic layer embedded in those recordings, particularly for nocturnal species such as the Mindoro Boobook. The discussion around terminology and how datasets are structured feels especially relevant, though I am still trying to understand how frameworks like Camtrap DP would apply in practice to this kind of data.

It is encouraging to see this direction being shaped at the community level. I will be following this closely as we continue to learn and figure out how our own datasets might eventually align.

Catherine Jardine

15 June 2026 11:54pm

Thanks for this!  I've shared this post with the WildTrax (https://wildtrax.ca/) team and CanAvian (https://canavian.ca/) to investigate. We're exploring data standards as part of a recent initiative so this will be very helpful! @jeffcullis 

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discussion

🐸 WILDLABS Awards 2025: Open-Source Solutions for Amphibian Monitoring: Adapting Autonomous Recording Devices (ARDs) and AI-Based Detection in Patagonia

Marcelo Bonino

27 May 2025 8:39pm

We’re excited to launch our WILDLABS-funded project to adapt open-source recording hardware and AI tools to help monitor amphibians, with an initial focus on one of South America'...

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Marcelo Bonino

12 November 2025 7:36pm

🌿 Project Update — November 2025
Sharing our experience at the Symposium on Physics Applied to Ecology and Conservation (Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil).

We’d like to thank Carlos Araujo for kindly inviting us to take part in the Symposium on Physics Applied to Ecology and Conservation, held on November 6–7, 2025, at the PTI Campus – Universidade Federal da Integração Latino-Americana (UNILA) in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil.

The event aimed to build bridges between researchers from different disciplines and countries, exploring how physics can support acoustic monitoring, ecological data collection, and biodiversity conservation.

🎙️ We joined Roundtable 3 — Hardware, Sensors, and Audio Recording, where we discussed:

Open-source autonomous recorders for biodiversity monitoring.

Energy-efficient design and sensor integration.

Alternative battery types and power solutions (particularly relevant to our developments)


🎥 Watch the roundtable recording here.


It was also a great opportunity to share our experience and highlight the WildLabs community, connecting with colleagues working at the intersection of physics, ecology, and technology.

 

 


 

 

Marcelo Bonino

9 June 2026 3:36pm

Hi everyone!

Following up on our project development, we have just published the full report on our work integrating environmental monitoring into AudioMoth devices and the resulting BirdNET workflows for Patagonian amphibians. You can find the complete documentation and results here.

Beyond the technical implementation, we’ve documented the custom firmware, the AI training pipeline for our species, and the practical challenges we faced during field deployments:

Project Video: YouTube Video Link

Firmware: AudioMoth I2C Firmware Repository (GitLab)

AI Workflow: BirdNET-based Workflow for Amphibians (GitHub)

Edge Models: TinyFrog Repository (GitHub)

PyTorch reimplementation: BirdNET-Analyzer (GitHub)

If you are working on similar setups or have questions about the hardware or the workflow, feel free to reach out. I hope this documentation proves useful for your own research.

Thanks for the support and the exchange of ideas during these months!

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discussion

Design your own wildlife satellite tag at the ICTC

Alasdair Davies

17 January 2026 8:20pm

Hi all,Arribada is hosting a Pre-Conference Workshop on the morning of 17th February at the ICTC so you can experiment with designing and assembling your own...

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Alasdair Davies

14 March 2026 12:18pm

Hi Arky,

We enjoyed running the workshop and it was a fantastic conference overall. Due to the nature of running it live we couldn't record the session, but we have some ideas to try and make it a more regular thing, so watch this space.

John Starmer

17 April 2026 6:52pm

Did not make it to the conference, but this is a topic of interest. Will keep an eye out for future workshops announcements.

It looks like the hardware is reasonably priced. Can you give a sense of what the connectivity costs are?

Alasdair Davies

7 June 2026 12:35pm

Hi John,

The standard rate for Argos airtime for NGOs is typically €63 p/m for unlimited transmissions within that month for marine projects (sea turtles etc). For fixed assets (ground stations) it's possible to discuss bulk discounting prices, but for 1 tag you'll be looking at the above.

Here's a new article too with an overview of the latest sea turtle satellite tag developed with the SMD - A breakthrough in low cost sea turtle satellite tagging and telemetry

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article

A breakthrough in low cost sea turtle satellite tagging and telemetry 

Alasdair Davies

7 June 2026 12:37am

It was on the shores of French Guiana, at 4am in the morning, that after 8 years of research and development to develop a ready-to-deploy open source satellite sea turtle tag, we achieved our goal.

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Luciano Foglia

8 June 2026 3:14pm

Huge congratulations to the whole team of Arribada for years of dedication to making this happen and delivering incredible open hardware for the community 😃

Alessandro Ponzo

12 June 2026 4:08pm

Amazing 🤩 🤩 

Super congratulations for the perseverance and so many years of work.

Thank you also for keep everything open source. 

Looking forward to deploy a few tags.

Pretty exciting.

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discussion

Habitat box monitoring?

Gerrit Niezen

14 January 2026 10:39am

Does anybody know of any good open-source solutions for habit box monitoring (e.g. bird boxes, bat boxes, hedgehog boxes and kestrel boxes)? We're trying to figure out if the...

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Jacob de Feijter

30 May 2026 11:19pm

Quickest way to do that is to do a simple range test using 2 modules like thisMobile LoRa setup

It's minimal cost and no need for any wiring or soldering etc.  You can also use it to see how antenna height affects the range, and - if needed - use the temporary base station as a repeater to extend the range of boxes that are in difficult locations. But the repeater will need to be equipped with a solar cell to keep the battery charged.

I use a kit like this - but with longer antenna to get a better range

LoRa test kit

I think they are on sale at the moment https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005009827293700.html

If you like, just send me the coordinates of the area where you intend to monitor the boxes. With Google Earth (or a contour map if you have) I may be able to give you an indication of what range you can expect.

 

 

 

 

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discussion

WOOHOO ITS WORKING!! Tech finds undetected decades old Alien Invasive Parent Plants in indigenous forest!

Sean Hill

24 July 2025 12:21pm

Great news everyone!! In November 2024 GeoWing Academy scanned 239 hectares of forested valleys using an off-the-shelf DJI Phantom 4 drone. The resulting...

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Julia

5 May 2026 11:02pm

This is a very promising result. The use of drones for detecting invasive species demonstrates strong potential for improving monitoring efficiency and accuracy. In a country like Brazil, where ecosystems are significantly affected by invasive species such as Hovenia dulcis (Japanese raisin tree) and Pinus spp., this technology could become a valuable tool for early detection and management.

Sean Hill

29 May 2026 10:15am

It certainly is! The great thing about it too is that the aerial detections often lead to more ground detections when teams are locating the trees from the map data and by using the ground app, they are able to mark the locations and photograph the newly discovered aliens and sync it to the existing maps as well. This allows for truly comprehensive removal and monitoring data capture.

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discussion

Nature Tech Unconference - Anyone attending?

Elsa

8 March 2025 12:11pm

Hi all, anyone planning to attend the Nature Tech Unconference on 28th March at the London School of Economics Campus in London, UK? (the event is free to attend but...

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Elsa

13 May 2026 12:05pm

Myself and the Fauna & Flora Conservation Technology team will be there (@Chelsea_Smith  and @ugyenpenjor ) and also the WILDLABS team @HRees ! See you!

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discussion

Looking for opportunities in AI for Bioacoustics and Environmental Monitoring

Leonardo Mannini

6 April 2026 10:37am

Hi everyone,My name is Leonardo Mannini, and I’m an AI engineer with a strong interest in bioacoustics and conservation technology.I recently completed a research role at FBK (...

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Brent Pease

17 April 2026 1:19pm

Hi Leonardo,


Let’s chat! I potentially have some opportunities, collaborations or even short-term employment. Send me a message. 

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discussion

Biowatch: a free, open-source desktop app for camera trap analysis

Arthur

21 April 2026 10:07am

Hi everyone  I wanted to share something we've been building that feels right at home in this community: Biowatch, a free and open-source desktop app...

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Mackenzie Leah Askin

22 April 2026 7:50pm

This looks amazing and I look forward to trying it out when I get the chance! 

Just wondering, when it comes to the AI recognitions, is there a way to "rename" the recognitions that were incorrect? 

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discussion

Reproducible Builds in Software Development

Manish Gadhvi

8 September 2025 8:47pm

Hi Wildlabs — quick question for the community: how important is reproducibility in your day-to-day conservation tech work?A few prompts to help:How important is...

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Manish Gadhvi

3 April 2026 2:46pm

Hi Stephen,

My experience of Nix is limited unfortunately but I think it offers a lot of the same benefits. I'm an Emacs/Lisp fan so it's perfect for me :)

There is Cuirass, which is a Guix specific CI and build automation service and a pack command to create containers. It's nice to have everything linked with Guix rather than different systems/frameworks

I built a small POC to explain the benefits. 

Stephen Leard

3 April 2026 6:39pm

Makes sense, I thought there might be a Lisp preference factoring in there 🙂

Cuirass looks cool, I'm going to check it out, and the eco-pulse-monitor project looks great too, well done!

Related to AI sustainability, have you checked out any of the CodeCarbon tools by chance? I've been working on incorporating their library into our daily code tasks at work, seems like a worthwhile project - 

EcoLogits just joined CodeCarbon too I think, also neat - 

Thanks!

Manish Gadhvi

5 April 2026 10:10pm

Thank you. That looks great! I was trying to build something similar but, as usual, there's a Python library already :) I was leaning towards trying SLMs like llama.cpp

 

My end goal is to find ways to use this approach in animal conservation specifically. I'm looking at data sets from the IUCN to see what's possible. I'd love to hear more about your work

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discussion

The boring fund: Standardizing Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) data - Safe & sound

Sanne Govaert

27 January 2025 3:47pm

Thanks to the Boring Fund, we are developing a common standard for Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) data.Why it’s important: PAM is rapidly growing, but a core bottleneck is the...

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Tessa Rhinehart

12 February 2025 4:15pm

Hey Sanne, awesome - we definitely need a consistent metadata standard for PAM.

If you haven't already, I would suggest sharing this on the Conservation Bioacoustics Slack channel and the AI for Conservation Slack channel. You would reach a lot of active users of PAM, including some folks who have worked on similar metadata efforts. 

If you're not a member of either one of those, DM me your preferred email address and I'll send you an invite!

Julia Wiel

7 April 2025 11:07pm

Hello everyone,

Thank you all for your contribution!

You can read some updates about this project in this post.

Julia

Julia Wiel

18 March 2026 3:48pm

For future readers, here you can find the report for this project: 

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discussion

Seeking input: FAIR & AI-ready wildlife drone datasets

Jenna Kline, PhD

4 March 2026 9:21am

Have you ever tried to reuse a published drone dataset, only to realize key context was missing? Or wanted to publish your drone dataset, but not sure how to start?We are seeking...

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Elsa

12 March 2026 11:11am

Hi @jennamkline , are you in the SCB Drones and Data Working Group? I think it would be great to have that as a topic for discussion during the next meeting! I'd be keen to hear more about this work.

@annavallery this might be of interest to you.

Jenna Kline, PhD

13 March 2026 2:36pm

hi @elsa thanks so much for the suggestion! i would love the SCD Drones and Data Working Group's input on this proposal. I was planning on attending one of their meetings later in March to solicit feedback. If there are additional venues to engage with the group, please let me know!

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discussion

AI Segmentation Tool for QGIS

Sean Hill

2 March 2026 8:29am

I’ve recently been testing an AI segmentation plugin developed by TerraLab for QGIS, and I have to say — it’s seriously impressive.It’s essentially a one-click segmentation tool...

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Sean Hill

3 March 2026 7:51am

It is a fantastic tool, really helps save time and increases efficiency. Have you used or designed tools like this before?

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discussion

Pytorch-Wildlife: A Collaborative Deep Learning Framework for Conservation (v1.0)

Zhongqi Miao

21 February 2024 10:30pm

Welcome to Pytorch-Wildlife v1.0At the core of our mission is the desire to create a harmonious space where conservation scientists from all over the globe can unite, share, and...

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Stephanie O'Donnell

17 April 2024 11:07am

Hi everyone! @zhongqimiao was kind enough to join Variety Hour last month to talk more about Pytorch-Wildlife, so the recording might be of interest to folks in this thread. Catch up here: 

Yuri Njathi

23 April 2024 9:48pm

Hi @zhongqimiao ,

Might you have faced such an issue while using mega detector

The conflict is caused by:
pytorchwildlife 1.0.2.13 depends on torch==1.10.1
pytorchwildlife 1.0.2.12 depends on torch==1.10.1
pytorchwildlife 1.0.2.11 depends on torch==1.10.1

 

if yes how did you solve it, or might you have any ideas?

torch 1.10.1 doesn't seem to exist

Isak Smith

2 March 2026 3:54pm

Very interesting!

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discussion

Open Source Solutions (OSS) Group Survey Results

Shannon Rankin

13 February 2026 7:35pm

In the late-2025 we shared an OSS Group Survey to help us understand:Who is our OSS Community?What does this community want/need from WILDLABS?What should be our priorities?If...

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Brant Gerald

14 February 2026 6:28pm

As a newcomer to this platform/community, this was incredibly insightful. I look forward to exploring this network and building a better world together. 

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discussion

Women in Conservation Forum: 3 Weeks Today!!

Macayle Rose Guerin

9 February 2026 1:31am

The Women in Conservation Forum held in the Trademark Hotel on Monday the 2nd of March is happening 3 weeks from today!Our timetable is coming together well, with involvement from...

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Mandy Eyrich

11 February 2026 2:16am

Hi Macayle! My assumption is that this is an in-person only event...yes? If there is an option to join remotely or listen in, please do follow up and share with our Community! I would personally love to attend, and I am sure many others would as well! And if there may be any content that is publicized post the event, please do share that as well. :) Sounds like a fantastic initiative -- thank you for sharing! Cheers!

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