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!
- @GermanFore
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Biologist and Ecologist, with experience in wildlife conservation and monitoring in South America. Interested in technologies for conservation. Current Science Director for WCS Colombia and Senior Conservation Scientist WCS Andes, Amazon, Orinoco Region.
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- @Doniham
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Machine Learning Developer willing to contribute to AI for the planet projects
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I am a ecologist and conservationist particularly excited about tech to aid biodiversity monitoring with a growing interest in analytics and AI. I am also a Project Manager at Rainforest Connection.
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- @cappel
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- @amatsika
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A biodiversity conservation researcher with immense interest in agroecology, alien and invasive species, human wildlife conflict, species conservation, ecosystems sustenance and restoration.
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- @cjturner
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Computational Ecologist working on camera traps, audio, tracking and remote sensing.
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- @rgaston5
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I am an educator, and a certified California Climate Steward. I have skills in machine learning and a passion for the environment and conservation
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- @dhruv
- | He/Him
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World Wide Fund for Nature/ World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
WWF-Tanzania GIS Specialist/Developer/Trainer
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Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB)
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When Victoria Espinel, President and CEO of BSA | The Software Alliance, spoke at the WWF Fuller Symposium, she took us on a whistle-stop tour of case studies where software and data are transforming our understanding...
10 March 2016
The Captain Planet Foundation is offering EcoTech grants in the amount of $2,500 to engage children in inquiry-based project in STEM fields.
18 February 2016
New horizon scanning report published this month identifies 15 emerging threats and opportunities for global biodiversity.
3 February 2016
From artificial “sniffer” technologies to portable DNA sequencers, the Wildlife Crime Tech Challenge received hundreds of innovative ideas to help stamp out wildlife crime. Now, the Challenge is proud to announce 16...
22 January 2016
Dr. Lucas Joppa, Scientist at Microsoft Research, considers the evolving impact of data in conservation and society. He examines the difference between ‘big data’ and ‘small data’, and explores how models such as the...
22 December 2015
John Amos, President of SkyTruth, explores how remote sensing is being used in conservation today and the importance of sky-truthing. He examines the role that citizen scientists can play in increasing transparency in...
21 December 2015
Gary Atkinson, Director of Emerging Technologies at ARM, explains why we should be interested in the Internet of Things. Could it be a game changer for conservation?
10 December 2015
The 2015 Fuller Symposium brought together thought leaders in science, policy, business, conservation and development to tackle emerging issues facing our planet. This framing piece was developed to support a Fuller...
26 November 2015
Article
Traceability (knowing where products come from and how they are made) is a foundational pre-cursor for many sustainability interventions. While many tools have been developed to offer high-level insight about the...
26 November 2015
The speed at which data travels from the point of collection to a format which is understandable and useful for decision makers can be of critical importance. In this case study, Tim Wilkinson discusses a powerful suite...
6 November 2015
New technologies offer a lot of potential for conservation, but are there potential risks to deploying these new technologies? In this first thought piece for the Ethics of Conservation Tech Group, Dr Chris Sandbrook...
2 November 2015
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Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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Dear Community,Together with Hackster.io, Seeed Studio is very happy to jointly organize “IoT Into the Wild Contest for Sustainable Plant... |
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AI for Conservation, Connectivity, Emerging Tech, Open Source Solutions, Sensors | 1 year 11 months ago | |
Thanks Carly. No special areas of interest for now although that will happen over time. Thanks so much for your reply. I will check the Conservation Tech directory out. Soumya |
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AI for Conservation | 1 year 11 months ago | |
Fascinating article, combining machine learning and acoustical signals to correlate coral reef health.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science... |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Marine Conservation | 2 years ago | |
We've now wrapped our first run of AI for Conservation Office Hours and you can read my review of how it went and lessons learned here. Given the ... |
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AI for Conservation | 2 years 5 months ago | |
Hi everyone! We are spreading the word about a free, open-source tool called Zamba that automatically detects and... |
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AI for Conservation | 2 years 6 months ago | |
Hi Wildlabbers, This week's Tech Tutor Jamie MacAulay is talking about how to use and analyze large acoustic data using... |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Marine Conservation | 2 years 7 months ago | |
Hi Wildlabbers, We're getting ready for tomorrow's episode with Tech Tutor Lily Xu, who'll talk to us about how machine... |
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AI for Conservation, Protected Area Management Tools, Wildlife Crime | 2 years 8 months ago | |
Looks good, but what is the added value compared to other examples as Obsidentify and Plantnet? |
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AI for Conservation | 2 years 9 months ago | |
https://www.dryad.netJob description"Dryad is an environmental IoT startup based in Berlin-Brandenburg. Our mission is to develop a large-... |
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AI for Conservation | 2 years 9 months ago | |
Deep Learning Engineer at Pachama - https://jobs.lever.co/pachama/81716dd9-8019-4916-add2-fcfaae426331 Embedded Software Engineer... |
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AI for Conservation | 2 years 9 months ago | |
Hi everyone, We're excited to welcome Nicole Flores to Tech Tutors to walk us through getting started with Wildlife Insights! ... |
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AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Data management and processing tools | 2 years 10 months ago | |
Hi all, We're excited to welcome Siyu Yang to Tech Tutors to chat about getting started with Megadetector! For all you AI... |
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AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Data management and processing tools | 2 years 10 months ago |