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!
- @ttopa
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Recent Environmental Science and Data Science graduate looking to learn more about the conservation tech world. www.TeodoroTopa.com
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I am the executive director of FishEye Collaborative, a non-profit leveraging emergent underwater listening technologies to grow our understanding of marine ecosystems. I am also the president of FishEye Acoustics, a marine tech company developing a new class of acoustic sensors.
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- @AnnabelL
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- @tutgut5
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Michigan Natural Features Inventory (MNFI)
Wildlife ecologist
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Technologist & Wildlife Photographer at Google
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- @Romain
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Biologist in Geneva
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World Wide Fund for Nature/ World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
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I've been working in IT for the past four years and Cybersecurity for the past year and a half. I'm looking to leverage my technical skills towards conservation purposes. I'm new on this journey and excited to jump of volunteer activities where I'm able!
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- @Riley
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I'm a Data Scientist at Western EcoSystems Technology. I am interested in AI processing and statistical modeling of acoustic data and camera trap and drone imagery.
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Article
In this article from BearID Project, Director and Software Developer Ed Miller walks us through using their application to identify individual bears from photographs. Ed shows us how to easily use BearID remotely in the...
21 July 2020
Put your acoustic monitoring skills to the test in The Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Birdsong Identification Kaggle Competition. Participants will compete to identify as many bird vocalizations as possible in in...
8 July 2020
Conservation technology largely consists of two categories: tools to monitor and study wildlife and their habitats, and solutions to mitigate or prevent negative human impacts. The fight against poaching in particular...
4 June 2020
A couple months ago, we introduced you to the Footprint Identification Technique (FIT), a non-invasive way to build an identification algorithm from both wild and captive animals by photographing footprints. Today, we'...
3 June 2020
Funding
The 2020 Hackaday Prize competition has begun! This year, Conservation X Labs has partnered with the Hackaday Prizes as one of four nonprofits seeking tech-based solutions to urgent challenges. Conservation X Labs'...
26 May 2020
Article
We're excited to welcome the WildTrack FIT group to our community! Today, we'd like to introduce you to the Footprint Identification Technique (FIT) and share how you can incorporate this tracking method into your field...
6 May 2020
Funding
Want to compete in the iWildCam 2020 competition identifying species in camera trap images to support biodiversity monitoring efforts and automatic species classification model improvements? Because the Workshop on Fine...
4 May 2020
The 2020 Arm Research Summit is accepting submissions from all research disciplines focusing on the role of technology in solving global challenges. Submissions should reflect the potential of sustainable, secure, and...
24 April 2020
Article
At the 2018 London Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference, we announced the WILDLABS Tech Hub, an accelerator programme created to support the development and scaling of groundbreaking technological solutions addressing the ...
13 April 2020
Article
At the 2018 London Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference, we announced the WILDLABS Tech Hub, an accelerator program created to support the development and scaling of groundbreaking technological solutions addressing the ...
26 March 2020
Trapped inside during the COVID-19 quarantine and looking to engage with conservation science without leaving your desk? Citizen science projects like those on Zooniverse offer a great opportunity to impact scientific...
18 March 2020
Machine learning is rapidly expanding as a useful field research tool, but its complexity can intimidate even seasoned tech conservationists. Edge Impulse aims to make machine learning solutions accessible,...
16 March 2020
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Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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Bluesky have a commercial tree crown dataset available covering most of Great Britain (England, Wales and parts of Scotland). There is a canopy layer with approximate outlines of... |
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AI for Conservation, Drones | 1 year 6 months ago | |
Rainforest Connection's (RFCx) Guardian devices may be of interest. They are solar-powered and have connectivity options for Wifi, GSM and satellite transfer. They've previously... |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Connectivity, Data management and processing tools, Protected Area Management Tools, Sensors | 1 year 6 months ago | |
My original background is in ecology and conservation, and am now in the elected leadership of the Gathering for Open Science Hardware which convenes researchers developing open... |
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AI for Conservation, Biologging, Camera Traps, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Data management and processing tools, Drones, Emerging Tech, Sensors | 1 year 6 months ago | |
Hi Sophie, Can you please help me or get in touch in developing a system where we are able to detect an Elephant? Would like to discuss more about it. Kindly treat this as urgent!! |
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AI for Conservation | 1 year 7 months ago | |
Hello All - @sarabeery et Al have just put a pre-print out on their educational insights into teaching Computer Vision to ecologists. I... |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Early Career, Emerging Tech | 1 year 7 months ago | |
The Conservation Technology Lab at San Diego Zoo seeks undergrads for summer projects in computer vision, machine learning, bioacoustics,... |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Conservation Tech Training and Education | 1 year 7 months ago | |
I just came across this interesting paper in which seismic monotoring of animals like elephants was mentioned. This is the study refered to:Cheers,Lars |
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AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Emerging Tech, Ethics of Conservation Tech, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Remote Sensing & GIS, Sensors | 1 year 8 months ago | |
Quick reminder that the deadline for applications is just shy of a week away. This workshop is particularly geared to teach ecologists computer vision tools to apply to their... |
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Conservation Tech Training and Education, AI for Conservation | 1 year 8 months ago | |
Hahaha, now I see why you were asking ... |
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AI for Conservation | 1 year 8 months ago | |
Hi all, one of the 8 MozFest 2023 spaces is 'Tech & Biodiversity', and the organisers seek input for an event on the intersection of... |
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AI for Conservation, Ethics of Conservation Tech, Open Source Solutions | 1 year 8 months ago | |
Out of curiosity, what are the similarities/differences between your platform and other image classification ones such as Wildlife Insights, WildID, ZambaCloud? I don't mean that... |
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AI for Conservation, Emerging Tech | 1 year 9 months ago | |
Thanks so much!! |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Biologging, Camera Traps, Community Base, Data management and processing tools, Drones, eDNA & Genomics, Emerging Tech, Open Source Solutions, Remote Sensing & GIS, Software and Mobile Apps | 1 year 10 months ago |
Upcoming AI for Conservation Events and Webinars
29 October 2020 10:57am
Tech Tutors: How do I train my first machine learning model?
18 June 2020 1:19pm
8 October 2020 9:45pm
Hi Wildlabbers,
Just popping in to share this very cool primer for beginners to embedded machine learning from our tutor Daniel Situnayake! If you're interested in learning more about the basics of TinyML, this is a great resource.
-Ellie
Training Opportunity: HarvardX TinyML Course
![](/sites/default/files/screen_shot_2020-09-30_at_2.43.53_pm-.png)
30 September 2020 12:00am
Webinar: Advances in Fisheries Electronic Monitoring
![](/sites/default/files/screen_shot_2020-09-21_at_11.31.25_am-.png)
21 September 2020 12:00am
Tech Tutors: Review Session
![](/sites/default/files/2023-05/favicon%20on%20black_0.png)
3 September 2020 12:00am
Sustainable Fishing Challenges: Fishing Gear Innovations
![](/sites/default/files/danbio-.jpeg)
19 August 2020 12:00am
Challenge: ElephantEdge
![](/sites/default/files/screen_shot_2020-08-11_at_3.09.29_pm-.png)
11 August 2020 12:00am
Event: StreamingScience's #Tech4Wildlife Thursdays
![](/sites/default/files/andrewpic-.jpg)
3 August 2020 12:00am
Automated Fish Identification and Abundance Using Artificial Intelligence
![](/sites/default/files/screen_shot_2020-07-28_at_4.14.37_pm-.png)
28 July 2020 12:00am
BearID To Go
![](/sites/default/files/bearid-.jpg)
21 July 2020 12:00am
Competition: Cornell Birdcall Identification
![](/sites/default/files/screen_shot_2021-04-19_at_5.54.18_pm-.png)
8 July 2020 12:00am
Tech Tutors: How do I get started using ML for my camera traps? Building Accurate Project-Specific Models
25 June 2020 12:02am
25 June 2020 6:01pm
26 June 2020 2:32pm
Hi everyone!
We've now posted Sara's session to our youtube channel, and I've also popped it up the top of this thread.
The collaborative notes worked really well! I've now updated them to capture what happened in the chat - it should be a helpful companion to go alongside the recording. The notes have links, projects, and key discussions we saw in the chat, and summarise the questions Sara coverd in the discussion as well as the Qs we weren't able to get to (40mins overtime was our limit!). If your question was one of the outstanding ones and you'd like to have it answered, please drop it in the discussion below.
The notes now also have the participant check ins (such an awesome range of places, projects and interests!) - I'm sharing these as seeing what other people are doing might help you connect with each other. If you see someone you want to connect with, try and find them using our member direcyour people tab. If you can't, email Ellie and she will see if that person is happy to hear from you before connecting you.
Reminder, registration is open for Carlos' tutorial next week: How do I perform automated recordings of bird assemblages? Register here.
Thanks everyone!
Steph
2 July 2020 8:58pm
Great talk! I thoroughly enjoyed it. Some high schoolers have done small AI projects(s) and have interest in the wildlife.
What resources would you all suggest to further develop high schooler’s interest in AI?
How do I scale up acoustic surveys with Audiomoths?
![](/sites/default/files/screen_shot_2020-06-25_at_5.57.36_pm-.png)
25 June 2020 12:00am
How do I perform automated recordings of bird assemblages?
![](/sites/default/files/carlos_pic_1-.jpg)
19 June 2020 12:00am
How do I train my first machine learning model?
![](/sites/default/files/danielbio-.jpg)
9 June 2020 12:00am
How do I get started using Machine Learning for my camera traps?
![](/sites/default/files/sara_0-.jpg)
9 June 2020 12:00am
Innovator Interview: Hack the Poacher
![](/sites/default/files/hackthepoacher-.jpg)
4 June 2020 12:00am
The Perfect Paw Print: Collecting Data with FIT
![](/sites/default/files/ellieprofilepic-.jpeg)
3 June 2020 12:00am
Competition: 2020 Hackaday Prize
![](/sites/default/files/screen_shot_2020-04-09_at_5.55.03_pm-.png)
26 May 2020 12:00am
WILDLABS Tech Tutors: Season One
![](/sites/default/files/2023-05/favicon%20on%20black_0.png)
19 May 2020 12:00am
Get To Know FIT
![](/sites/default/files/2023-05/favicon%20on%20black_0.png)
6 May 2020 12:00am
Competition: iWildCam 2020
![](/sites/default/files/cvpr-.jpg)
4 May 2020 12:00am
Training Course: Quantitative Analysis of Marine & Coastal Drone Data
![](/sites/default/files/dukemarinelogo-.jpg)
29 April 2020 12:00am
Call for Submissions – Arm Research Summit 2020
![](/sites/default/files/2023-03/Screenshot%202023-03-27%20at%2015.59.47.png)
24 April 2020 12:00am
WILDLABS Tech Hub: WWF PandaSat
![](/sites/default/files/2023-05/favicon%20on%20black_0.png)
13 April 2020 12:00am
Webinar 11PST 3/20 - Deep Learning for Airborne Tree Detection
17 March 2020 1:28am
17 March 2020 3:52pm
Thanks Ben. I'll see what I can do.
24 March 2020 9:57am
Hello Ben. Unfortunately I couldn't make it on Friday. It would be great if I could take a look at your slides. I'm interested in trying to count mangrove trees. I have some WorldView 2 data. Do you think I could use DeepForest for this?
31 March 2020 4:21am
DeepForest docs are here.
https://deepforest.readthedocs.io/
Welcome to have a look. My experience is that individual trees cannot be distinguished in satellite imagery. The coarest resolution we've had success with is 0.3m. However, the deepforest weights may still useful as a starting location. If there are visible objects in your image that you want to detect, collecting a few hundred training data samples and retraining the model for 2-3 epochs could be useful. See the link for details. Happy to help, submit issues on the github repo is something isn't clear/doesn't work. Everything is in dev.
WILDLABS Community Call Recording: Rainforest X-PRIZE
30 March 2020 12:00am
Open, challenging dataset for audio classification
27 March 2020 10:52am
27 March 2020 11:51am
Hi Radek,
I'm sure others can help here, but check out our recent virtual meetup (it'll be posted here in about an hour), the speakers - particularly Dave Watson - shared open datasets that might be what you're looking for.
Over on Twitter, Jesse Alston is collating a google sheet so that people can advertise data sets that grad students can use to finish theses. @arik 's reply here might be of particular interest: 'We have been recording 24/7 soundscapes in remote US locations like Yellowstone NP and rural central Wisconsin with multiple GPS synced recorders. Our goal is to study wolf and coyote vocalisations, but if anyone can make use of these data for their own studies, drop me a line!.'
Hope this helps!
Steph
27 March 2020 12:25pm
Steph, thank you so much for this, this is wonderful :) Really, really apreciate you sharing this with me :) Diving into all of the wonderful resources from you, thank you so very much for this!
Radek
Help collate list of Ecology/Conservation Data Sets for grad students
27 March 2020 12:07pm
Automated species detection from camera traps
30 January 2020 8:43am
25 March 2020 2:59pm
I see. Im interested and would like to help. I will need the images to train the network. As many as possible.
if you dont have them yet, try to find similar images preferably of the same species. I will use them to test the performance of the detection.
25 March 2020 6:49pm
I'm not familiar with camera traps, but there are a couple of options:
1) If the animals tend to cover most part of the image, then you can train a CNN classifier to distinguish between species (available with the keras-Tensorflow modules in Python)
2) If, however, the animals only cover a small part of the image (e.g. in the distance), it might be better to use an object detector (I've used YOLOv2 in the past for fish detection), which however is not that straightforward, especially with Python (I used MATLAB)
In any case, keras-Tensorflow classification with Python might be the most straightforward option for your goal. You should also certainly have a look at Google's Wildlife Insights platform which is specialized for species classification from camera trap images.
27 March 2020 10:33am
This can be done, happy to help :) But I think I need to understand the situation a little bit more.
Do you already have the data for training / inference? Do you have any example images with the species in them annotated? Say a still from the camera with a tiger and a csv file referencing that file and annotating that there is a tiger in the image?
Would you like someone to do the developing and training of the deep learning model for you? I work as an AI research engineer at the Earth Species project and I am also a part of a community of deep learning practitioners where we apply cutting edge research to various problems. Here you can check a little initiative I started a couple of days ago to teach people how to work with audio (there is a related forum thread but unfortunately it is in closed forums for the time being as it is associated with a course that is under way). My main point is this - if you have the data and would like someone to help you out on the modelling part, I can coordinate this.
Alternatively, if you cannot release the data, I can point you to materials that can get you started to carry out the work yourself.
29 October 2020 11:02am
AI for Climate Forum: Lightning Talks
Bonnie Lei, Microsoft AI for Earth - 4pm GMT, October 30
Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_wO6ek5dTSMOmYqeMCDbkoQ
As part of the AI for Climate Forum 2020, we will host a series of Lighting Talks with industry leaders, academic representatives and researchers, NGO leaders, and policymakers; that will share ideas about the future of conservation and the harnessing of exponential technologies in the fight against climate change.
Next Guests:
October 30: Bonnie Lei, Head of Global Strategic Partnerships at AI for Earth/ Microsoft
November 6: Jenny Lawton, Startup Founder, and Innovation Expert