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!
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 17 Groups
- @ptynecki
- | Piotr
Software Engineer with 10+ years of experience in application design, development, testing and deployment. Highly experienced in Health Care, Life Science and BigData projects. Artificial Intelligence researcher (NLP, Computer Vision) with experience in Wildlife Conservation.
- 0 Resources
- 6 Discussions
- 4 Groups
- @tkswanson
- | she/her
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance
Research Coordinator II for the Conservation Technology Lab at SDZWA
- 2 Resources
- 1 Discussions
- 7 Groups
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance
Wildlife ecologist with a passtion for conseration technology.
- 0 Resources
- 3 Discussions
- 4 Groups
Artificial Intelligence and Environmental Science Researcher
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 4 Groups
PhD Candidate at University College London. Research and develop wireless sensor networks for biodiversity monitoring. Currently working on a software package for AI bioacoustics classifiers on edge device.
- 0 Resources
- 2 Discussions
- 9 Groups
Saint Louis Zoo
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 13 Groups
- @AliceFrontiers
- | She / Her
- 1 Resources
- 5 Discussions
- 2 Groups
- @MattyD797
- | He/Him
PhD Student | Cornell University | Smithsonian Institution; My focus is in computational ecology within fishery acoustics
- 0 Resources
- 10 Discussions
- 12 Groups
Sea Mammal Research Unit Univ' St Andrews
- 0 Resources
- 14 Discussions
- 5 Groups
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 10 Groups
- @Namukuru
- | Her/ she
I am an Environmentalist with a background in Data Science. I envision a world where development is founded upon sustainability. I believe in executing projects that leverage innovation to enhance the well-being of the environment, the people, and the economy; simultaneously.
- 1 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 3 Groups
Operating the largest tropical forest camera trap network globally, TEAM Network has accumulated over 2.6 million images. How can large datasets coupled with new techniques for data management and analysis provide...
28 April 2016
Camera traps have revolutionised wildlife research and conservation, enabling scientists to collect photographic evidence of rarely seen and often globally endangered species, with low expense, relative ease, and...
20 April 2016
Thousands of papers and reports about flora and fauna are published each year. While peer-reviewed published information is vitally important to conservation organisations, the ever-increasing mountain of information...
5 April 2016
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
June 2024
July 2024
August 2024
event
event
September 2024
event
event
October 2024
December 2023
event
54 Products
Recently updated products
14 Products
Recently updated products
Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
---|---|---|---|---|
Thank you @carlybatist , @Freaklabs and @MK . The inputs are very useful and I am progressing on my project based on that. Appreciate a lot. |
|
Acoustics, AI for Conservation | 1 year 11 months ago | |
Some folks doing work in this space - Wildlife Drones, Conservation Drones, UAV Wild, AfricanDrones, Oceans Unmanned, Geonadir. |
|
Drones, AI for Conservation, Citizen Science, eDNA & Genomics, Emerging Tech | 1 year 11 months ago | |
Dear Community,Together with Hackster.io, Seeed Studio is very happy to jointly organize “IoT Into the Wild Contest for Sustainable Plant... |
|
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 |
|
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... |
|
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 ... |
|
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... |
|
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... |
|
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... |
|
AI for Conservation, Protected Area Management Tools, Wildlife Crime | 2 years 9 months ago | |
Looks good, but what is the added value compared to other examples as Obsidentify and Plantnet? |
+13
|
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-... |
|
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... |
|
AI for Conservation | 2 years 9 months ago |
AI + Environment Summit
26 October 2023 11:15am
Entomological Research Specialist for Automated Insect Monitoring
25 October 2023 7:21pm
Lead Data Engineer - Climate Solutions, Open Earth
25 October 2023 11:07am
Automated moth monitoring & you!
24 October 2023 8:52am
Biodiversity modelling in the AI era
23 October 2023 12:03pm
Soundscapes and deep learning enable tracking biodiversity recovery in tropical forests
20 October 2023 3:38pm
New paper in Nature Communications from Jörg Müller et al. using BAR-LT recorders and CNNs to track biodiversity recovery. Study shows that #soundscapes 🎙🎶 and deep learning are powerful tools for tracking biodiversity recovery in tropical forests
ZSL Research Fellow (x3 roles)
20 October 2023 3:34pm
PhD Opportunity: YELLOWHAMMER - Individual acoustic monitoring to study song culture evolutionwithin and between dialect areas
20 October 2023 12:54pm
PhD Opportunity: Distributed sound source localisation and separation for wireless microphone networks consisting of two-microphone nodes
20 October 2023 12:47pm
PhD Opportunity: 'FLOATERS' position at Bioacoustic AI Doctoral Network
20 October 2023 12:36pm
Catch up with The Variety Hour: October 2023
19 October 2023 11:59am
Anyone else attending ADSA in Texas next week?
17 October 2023 8:46pm
Practical strategies for conservationists in an increasingly digital world
9 October 2023 5:04pm
Leveraging new digital technologies for conservation impact
9 October 2023 4:39pm
AI Challenge aiming to automate the identification process of sea turtles
6 October 2023 11:38am
The current method of tagging turtles for monitoring is intrusive, time-consuming, and expensive. Find out how automated recognition software using photo and video data can enhance monitoring efficiency and assist organizations dedicated to protecting these important species.
Four Amazing Impacts of This A.I.-Powered Bird Migration Tracker | Science| Smithsonian Magazine
5 October 2023 4:26pm
Check out how BirdCast's newest advances can provide detailed flight forecasts of millions of birds!
GEO BON Monitoring Biodiversity for Action
5 October 2023 3:10pm
Mozilla Foundation, funding for nature conservation
4 October 2023 6:30pm
🚀 New Grant: 'Satellites for Biodiversity Award' Round 2
2 October 2023 1:50pm
GIS & Data Science Specialist
28 September 2023 1:32pm
Conservation Innovation Manager
27 September 2023 11:08pm
1st Wildlife Scientific Conference 2023
25 September 2023 11:10am
Geospatial Data Scientist, Varaha
25 September 2023 9:58am
Digital Disruption for Conservation Toolkit
22 September 2023 12:18pm
Made available by the Digital Disruption and the Future of Conservation project team at Unearthodox, the toolkit provides conservation practitioners with a comprehensive introduction to Web 3.0 and AI concepts and their potential use for nature conservation.
IUCN and AI2 to provide AI technology at no cost to fast-track implementation of newly signed UN High Seas Treaty
22 September 2023 9:54am
Q&A: UK NERC £3.6m AI (image) for Biodiversity Funding Call - ask your questions here
13 September 2023 4:10pm
*NEW* White Paper: Harnessing the Power of Sound & AI to track Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) Targets
20 September 2023 12:53pm
DSAIL Tech4Wildlife Workshop Tutorials Now Available!
20 September 2023 12:22pm
Mozilla Technology Fund: AI and Environmental Justice Awards
15 September 2023 12:09pm
In case you missed it... (no. 1)
12 September 2023 11:49am
13 September 2023 6:23am
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)