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!
M.A.P Scientific Services
Co-founder and Director of M.A.P Scientific Services, South Africa
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- @gob1thaasan
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Gobithaasan started his career as a lecturer in 2009 and was promoted as an associate professor in 2015. His research current focus at Universiti Sains Malaysia is twofold; Topological Data Analysis and Machine Learning.
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- @sheilaotuko
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Electrical and Electronic Engineering student with passion for green energy and climate action.
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- @APendael
- | Mr.
Amos Pendael is a renowned conservation and research specialist with extensive experience in the field of Management Oriented Monitoring Skills (MOMS), remote sensing, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). With a M.Sc in Natural Resources Assessment and Management.
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- @Xavier_Mouy
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I build software and hardware tools to help the analysis or the collection of passive acoustic data.
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A Marine Conservationist based in Malaysia
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- @Netty_Cheruto
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Natural Solutions
Engineer, Ph.D in Computation Ecology. Interested in developing tools for the massive acquisition of high dimensional data from new technologies (e.g., imaging, omics), their analysis and visualization.
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Researcher interested in the conservation of endemic anurans from arid High Andes. Focused on behavior, ecology, physiology, and reproduction studies. Education for conservation.
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- @Mathilde
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Natural Solutions
Engineer, I work for a web development company on web application projects for biodiversity conservation. I'm especially interested by camera traps, teledetection and DeepLearning subjects.
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Director of Spatial Planning and Innovation Nature Conservancy of Canada
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WildTrack
Research, development and implementation of non-invasive montoring for endangered species
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The Project Manager will work to implement acoustic monitoring projects in countries worldwide with some of the biggest stakeholders in conservation tech and biodiversity monitoring!
12 April 2023
New paper in Journal of Animal Ecology
24 March 2023
💙 Exciting news from Appsilon! Our flagship project, Mbaza AI, is expanding its impact on nature and biodiversity conservation. We’ve teamed up with the 🦏 Ol Pejeta Conservancy to build a model for classifying images of...
16 March 2023
The Innovation in Practice edition of Methods in Ecology and Evolution is still seeking proposals about conservation technology
6 March 2023
Article
Rainforest Connection (RFCx) is bringing back the Arbimon newsletter for 2023! We're excited to share new features and tools of the platform, what's coming up, and some insights into our projects on bioacoustic...
23 February 2023
New technology enabling the automated monitoring of moths has been put to rigorous testing in tropical conditions in Panama by an international team of researchers
22 February 2023
Researchers and conservationists are embarking on a bold initiative to save the world's most trafficked wild mammal — the pangolin
16 February 2023
A machine learning-based solution that can segment the Prosomes and Lipid sacs with sufficient accuracy helps to recognize the ecological plasticity of key Arctic copepods. It allows scientists to learn more about the...
15 February 2023
Technology to End the Sixth Mass Extinction. Salary: $104k-144K; Location: Washington DC or Seattle WA, potential hybrid; 5+ years of Full stack development experience; Deadline March 15th - view post for full job...
10 February 2023
Careers
The British Antarctic Survey’s Artificial Intelligence Lab is looking to hire a machine learning engineer/researcher.
10 February 2023
You will develop and apply novel approaches and machine learning techniques for the detection, classification and identification of marine fauna from passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) validated with paired visual...
10 February 2023
Careers
On the AST Skylight team, you will work with talented engineers, domain experts, and product managers to uncover illegal fishing by developing the tools that help countries around the globe combat this problem.
10 February 2023
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Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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No worries! I'll be trying the other one to see how it works. Thank you for your help! |
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AI for Conservation | 2 minutes 39 seconds ago | |
Fantastic!! |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Biologging, Build Your Own Data Logger Community, Community Base, Early Career, Ethics of Conservation Tech, Marine Conservation, Open Source Solutions | 5 seconds ago | |
The camera can be aimed at the greenhouse background, which is like a huge green screen. Inside the greenhouse there's only a few flying insects, and they would all have to fly... |
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AI for Conservation | 1 day 16 hours ago | |
Hi David - have you seen this opportunity? It may be a good one to apply to for support (the Darwin Initiative). |
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AI for Conservation, Drones, Emerging Tech, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Wildlife Crime | 3 days 10 hours ago | |
Hi everyone! I’m sending some information for a paid user study about Explainable AI and bird identification that may be of interest:Our... |
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AI for Conservation, Citizen Science | 5 days 16 hours ago | |
I am also commenting for future notifications - very interested to hear some responses.While not directly related to AI, here in Canada there's quite a conversation around data... |
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AI for Conservation | 2 weeks ago | |
Yes, this system is designed to be installed near farms. We also have the repeller system with audio & light, that is battery & solar powered. This system is a "last line... |
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AI for Conservation | 3 weeks 5 days ago | |
Undoubted things will quickly evolve from just "straight" ChatGPTn, BARD, ClaudeAI, etc "standard" models, to more specialized Retrieval Augmentation Generation (RAG) , where... |
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AI for Conservation, Emerging Tech | 1 month ago | |
This is so cool! I am 1000% going to see if they want to come talk about it at Variety Hou! |
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AI for Conservation, Citizen Science | 1 month ago | |
Hi Sol,If the maximum depth is 30m, it would be worth experimenting with HydroMoth in this application especially if the deployment time is short. As Matt says, the air-filed case... |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Data management and processing tools, Emerging Tech, Sustainable Fishing Challenges | 1 month 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 | 1 month 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 | 1 month 1 week ago |