With new technologies revolutionizing data collection, wildlife researchers are becoming increasingly able to collect data at much higher volumes than ever before. Now we are facing the challenges of putting this information to use, bringing the science of big data into the conservation arena. With the help of machine learning tools, this area holds immense potential for conservation practices. The applications range from online trafficking alerts to species-specific early warning systems to efficient movement and biodiversity monitoring and beyond.
However, the process of building effective machine learning tools depends upon large amounts of standardized training data, and conservationists currently lack an established system for standardization. How to best develop such a system and incentivize data sharing are questions at the forefront of this work. There are currently multiple AI-based conservation initiatives, including Wildlife Insights and WildBook, that are pioneering applications on this front.
This group is the perfect place to ask all your AI-related questions, no matter your skill level or previous familiarity! You'll find resources, meet other members with similar questions and experts who can answer them, and engage in exciting collaborative opportunities together.
Just getting started with AI in conservation? Check out our introduction tutorial, How Do I Train My First Machine Learning Model? with Daniel Situnayake, and our Virtual Meetup on Big Data. If you're coming from the more technical side of AI/ML, Sara Beery runs an AI for Conservation slack channel that might be of interest. Message her for an invite.
Header Image: Dr Claire Burke / @CBurkeSci
Explore the Basics: AI
Understanding the possibilities for incorporating new technology into your work can feel overwhelming. With so many tools available, so many resources to keep up with, and so many innovative projects happening around the world and in our community, it's easy to lose sight of how and why these new technologies matter, and how they can be practically applied to your projects.
Machine learning has huge potential in conservation tech, and its applications are growing every day! But the tradeoff of that potential is a big learning curve - or so it seems to those starting out with this powerful tool!
To help you explore the potential of AI (and prepare for some of our upcoming AI-themed events!), we've compiled simple, key resources, conversations, and videos to highlight the possibilities:
Three Resources for Beginners:
- Everything I know about Machine Learning and Camera Traps, Dan Morris | Resource library, camera traps, machine learning
- Using Computer Vision to Protect Endangered Species, Kasim Rafiq | Machine learning, data analysis, big cats
- Resource: WildID | WildID
Three Forum Threads for Beginners:
- I made an open-source tool to help you sort camera trap images | Petar Gyurov, Camera Traps
- Batch / Automated Cloud Processing | Chris Nicolas, Acoustic Monitoring
- Looking for help with camera trapping for Jaguars: Software for species ID and database building | Carmina Gutierrez, AI for Conservation
Three Tutorials for Beginners:
- How do I get started using machine learning for my camera traps? | Sara Beery, Tech Tutors
- How do I train my first machine learning model? | Daniel Situnayake, Tech Tutors
- Big Data in Conservation | Dave Thau, Dan Morris, Sarah Davidson, Virtual Meetups
Want to know more about AI, or have your specific machine learning questions answered by experts in the WILDLABS community? Make sure you join the conversation in our AI for Conservation group!
- @Becky_Heath
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University of Cambridge & Imperial College London
Interdisciplinary scientist working in field data collection methods and tropical agriculture
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Sustainability Manager for CERES Tag LTD. An animal health company; animal monitoring, conservation, & anti-poaching/ rural crime. Wildlife, livestock, equine & companion. #CeresTrace #CeresWild #CeresRanch
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- @TaliaSpeaker
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WILDLABS & World Wide Fund for Nature/ World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
I'm the WILDLABS Research Specialist at WWF-US
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I am a Senior researcher and PI in Conservation and Animal Ecology at Fondazione Edmund Mach, Trento, Italy. I am coordinator of EUROMAMMALS, member of the advisory board of the Global Initiative on Ungulate Migration at CMS, and President of the International Bio-Logging Society
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- @serena.le
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Conservation tech enthusiast
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- @Pepyanyabuma
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Conservationist/ecologist
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- @StephODonnell
- | She / Her
WILDLABS & Fauna & Flora
I'm the Community Manager at WILDLABS
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Data Science | Remote Sensing | GIS | Geospatial Cloud Computing | Big Data
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Artificial Intelligence and Environmental Science Researcher
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Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)
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- @mclapham
- | She/her
BearID Project
Conservation biologist using camera traps to develop automated methods of photoID
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Yale University & Map of Life Rapid Assessments - XPRIZE
8 November 2023
Yale University & Map of Life Rapid Assessments - XPRIZE
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20 October 2023
FLOATERS: Using individually distinct vocalizations to estimate breeding and non-breeding population of a species. Apply for the fully funded PhD position now!
20 October 2023
Many people know of the Mozilla Foundation because of the FireFox browser and other open source software they produce together with countless volunteers. Perhaps less well known, the Mozilla Foundation also runs a...
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Could you be our next team member to help empower conservation through data and technology?
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Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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In my experience, ChatGPT-4 performs significantly better than version 3.5, especially in terms of contextual understanding. However, like any AI model, inaccuracies cannot be... |
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AI for Conservation, Emerging Tech | 3 minutes 8 seconds ago | |
Online citizen science platforms like iNaturalist and Macaulay Library contain a wealth of images but are hard to search using text. We are... |
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AI for Conservation, Citizen Science | 19 hours 16 minutes ago | |
We're seeking training data for AI for wolf ID - we at T4C manage 3 Wildbook platforms: Wild North, Whiskerbook and the... |
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AI for Conservation | 2 days 23 hours ago | |
Hi Phani,An entry point might be to participate in a challenge related to conservation on:KaggleDrivenDataFruitPunchMax Planck Institute of Animal BehaviorYou could also reach out... |
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AI for Conservation | 1 week 1 day ago | |
SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR WILL ALSO DETECT AND LOCATE CHAINSAWS, MOTORBIKES, BICYLCLES, FIREARMS, MACHETES in fact anything metal. I have been concentrating on trying to get... |
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AI for Conservation, Drones, Emerging Tech, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Wildlife Crime | 1 week 1 day ago | |
I'm not an expert in this field, but have been doing some self study for a local project... Resolving animals in an image is not purely height related - but rather a combination... |
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AI for Conservation | 1 week 1 day ago | |
[oops, the same reply got submitted twice and there doesn't seem to be a "delete" button] |
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AI for Conservation, Camera Traps | 1 week 1 day ago | |
Hi @zhongqimiao ,Might you have faced such an issue while using mega detectorThe conflict is caused by:pytorchwildlife 1.0.2.13 depends on torch==1.10.1pytorchwildlife 1.0.2.12... |
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AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Open Source Solutions | 1 week 1 day ago | |
Hey Sol, No problem at all. Depending on your configuration, the Audiomoth software would have to work on a PCB with an ESP32 chip which is the unit on the audiomoth/... |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Data management and processing tools, Emerging Tech, Sustainable Fishing Challenges | 1 week 3 days ago | |
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AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Open Source Solutions, Software and Mobile Apps | 1 week 3 days ago | |
Gotcha, well I look forward to seeing future iterations and following along with your progress!! |
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Hi everyone!@LashaO and @holmbergius from the Wild Me team at ConservationX Labs gave a superb talk at last month's Variety Hour,... |
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AI for Conservation, Camera Traps | 2 weeks 1 day ago |
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Where to start in ct ?
1 September 2023 2:50pm
2 September 2023 12:53am
Hi Lucas.
I can understand that there are a lot of technologies being thrown around and it can be confusing about what is really needed. I recommend to first select an area of conservation you want to focus in, ie: ecological restoration, soil conservation, wildlife management, etc. Based on that decision, look at what technologies are available that can potential help in that field. We do a lot of work in ecological restoration and find that long term, longitudinal monitoring of conservation reserves are important. Because of that, we use a lot of datalogging and wireless communications to monitor remote locations. If you're interested in invasive species management, you might be drawn towards wildlife tracking (movement ecology), trap monitoring, drones, etc.
The technology is a tool, and you should look at it like field gear. The gear will change depending on what you're setting out to do and the tool is supposed to make your life easier, not harder :)
Hope that helps.
Akiba
2 September 2023 6:14am
Very helpful, thank you. One more thing, are there any broad skills that apply to all areas of conservation tech that may be helpful to learn/improve, e.g data analysis?
DSAIL Tech4Wildlife Workshop
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Mobile App. Developer / Gibbon Research
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Catch up with The Variety Hour: August 2023
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Acoustic Monitoring and AI to Recognize Elephant Sounds & Gunshots
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This article discusses Cornell's bioacoustics work with AI tools to recognize both elephant "voices" as well as gunshots. The elephant rumbles analyzed in this work are almost imperceptible to the human ear, but can be clearly detected with technology.
#Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge: Judges' Panel Honorees
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Sustained Effort: Scaling Positivity
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Every nature business or wildlife NGO faces 3 obstacles:
💰 Money
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Now I have great news: AI can help your nature venture with all 3 of them.
👉 You can still sign-up https://wildbusinessmates.com/double-your-impact-newsletter/
Senior Technical Specialist, Monitoring & Technology, ZSL
18 July 2023 1:44pm
Wildlife Conservation Drones & Technologies Summit 2023
16 July 2023 10:04pm
Artificial Intelligence in African Anti-Poaching Strategy | by Tusk | Jul, 2023 | Medium
12 July 2023 4:59pm
"Artificial Intelligence could be the solution needed to effectively monitor and safeguard vast landscapes across Africa that, up until now, have been protected solely by patrolling." Read Tusk's latest Medium blog on the emergence of AI in conservation
Tools for automating image analysis for biodiversity monitoring
12 July 2023 4:50pm
Kew Research Fellow - Digital Revolution
12 July 2023 4:38pm
21 September 2023 4:27pm
This is super cool! Me and @Hubertszcz and @briannajohns and several others are all working towards some big biodiversity monitoring projects for a large conservation project here in panama. The conservation project is happening already, but hubert starts on the ground work in January and im working on a V3 of our open source automated insect monitoring box to have ready for him by then.
I guess my main question would be if this funding call is appropriate/interested for this type of project? and what types of assistance are possible through this type of funding (researchers? design time? materials? laboratory field construction)