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!
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- @Sumit_Arora
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Centre for Wildlife Studies
Tech & Partnerships at CWS | Tech4Good | Sustainability | Biodiversity | Climate Action | Heartfulness
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- @BrunaTeixeira
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Master and PhD student in the Postgraduate Program in Animal Biology. She works mainly in Landscape Ecology with an emphasis on bioacoustics and interactions between primates.
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- @lhughey
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Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute
I am an ecologist and program manager with experience leading collaborative research projects in international settings. I specialize in the application of animal tracking data to conserve migratory species on a changing planet.
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Ol Pejeta Conservancy
IT Engineer at The Conservation Tech Lab in Ol Pejeta Conservancy. |Endeavoring to implement tech solutions for conservation.
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- @heiabb02
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Early Career Wild Felid conservationist with BS in Biology & Zoology
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CEH
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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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I am an enthusiastic computer scientist, fascinated by animals and I want to collaborate in conservation project ! :D
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Are you creative, love new challenges and have experience developing software? The Wildlife Insights team is hiring! Join a diverse team of ecologists, data scientists, engineers and machine learning experts to protect...
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A gentle introduction to the exciting field of embedded machine learning.
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Ceres Tag sends just in time alerts and GPS location to have the power to track and trace.
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The Earth Species Project (ESP) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to decoding animal communication and translating non-human language.
15 July 2022
This WhaleSeeker article discusses how reliable distribution data depends on accurate labelling from survey images, and how AI can improve this process.
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The Pl@ntNet team is looking for a data scientist with strong skills in python and pytorch development. Pl@ntNet is a citizen observatory of plant biodiversity & research platform at the crossroads of data science,...
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Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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Hi everybody 👋🏽,I'm a UX designer, and I design interfaces and improve user experiences/flows. I would love to contribute to conservation... |
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AI for Conservation, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Emerging Tech, Human-Wildlife Conflict | 1 year 3 months ago | |
Thanks Bas! I'll look into SSD vs RCNNs, I'd never heard of an SSD. |
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AI for Conservation, Camera Traps | 1 year 3 months ago | |
greetings! i sent you a PM regarding this, feel free to contact me however is most convenient for you - regards,chris |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Climate Change, East Africa Community, Wildlife Crime | 1 year 3 months ago | |
I'm looking for any recommendations for any entry level/internship remote roles/companies in the United States that are focused in... |
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AI for Conservation, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Early Career, Remote Sensing & GIS | 1 year 3 months ago | |
Hi everyone! and thanks @StephODonnell for the invite :)I’m a software engineer working on MLOps, and currently studying for a part-time... |
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AI for Conservation, Open Source Solutions | 1 year 3 months ago | |
Indeed, I'll be there too! I like to meet new conservation friends with morning runs, so I will likely organize a couple of runs, maybe one right near the conference, and... |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Autonomous Camera Traps for Insects, Camera Traps, Remote Sensing & GIS | 1 year 4 months ago | |
Hi everyone! The Fine Grained Visual Categorization Workshop (FGVC) is hosting its 10th rendition at CVPR this June in Vancouver. A huge... |
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AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Marine Conservation | 1 year 4 months ago | |
Hi everyone,I'm new here :)I'm doing my thesis of biology bachelor about Rhino poaching. I wanted to ask here if yu have some articles... |
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AI for Conservation, Ending Wildlife Trafficking Online, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Wildlife Crime | 1 year 4 months ago | |
Yes please reach out with any questions on acoustic monitoring, Arbimon, RFCx, etc.! |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Data management and processing tools | 1 year 4 months ago | |
I couldn't agree more with both of these comments tom! I'm reading hundreds (literally hundreds) of applications for open WILDLABS roles at the moment, and the ones that stand out... |
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AI for Conservation, Drones, Early Career, Sensors | 1 year 5 months ago | |
We have made available our underwater videos on YouTube as a playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnhVZKKy8WkZKriCIV6r7upWhHNVrU_7L It's about 1.113 short video... |
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AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Data management and processing tools, Marine Conservation | 1 year 5 months ago | |
Hi Steph, This should be a simple project. Recently I came across a website with a sample video I am not sure whether it was from the wild Labs website. Where a camera is... |
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AI for Conservation, Camera Traps | 1 year 5 months ago |
Automatically detect animals in camera trap images and filter out the empties
22 February 2022 6:51pm
17 November 2022 7:59pm
@antoineede @divyar EcoAssist is now also available on Windows and Linux:
11 July 2023 10:52am
Thanks, @pvlun,@pvlun we are going to try it to develop a model for feral cat and rat detection in camera trap.
AI for Eagles Challenge
7 July 2023 10:03am
New Add-ons for Mbaza AI
4 July 2023 12:00pm
RFCx/Arbimon is Hiring a Data Scientist!
28 June 2023 9:37pm
Techonomy 23: The AI Dilemma
27 June 2023 12:19pm
New collaboration network - Computer vision for insects
26 June 2023 2:36pm
PhD Position in Deep Learning for Biodiversity Monitoring: Custom Imaging Platform and Deep Learning to Classify and Phenotype Earthworms
21 June 2023 8:23am
Information Session: Technology Testing to Mitigate Human-Elephant Conflict in West Bengal
19 June 2023 11:07pm
Innovation wanted: Technology Testing to Mitigate Human-Elephant Conflict in West Bengal
19 June 2023 10:54pm
The Wildlife Society Conference
19 June 2023 5:59am
Catch up with The Variety Hour: June 2023
16 June 2023 11:43am
AI Prompt Engineer in Dublin, DGB Group
15 June 2023 3:32pm
CV4Animals: Computer Vision for Animal Behavior Tracking and Modeling
15 June 2023 12:39pm
FathomNet Workshop @CVPR 2023
15 June 2023 12:27pm
Apply for the Google for Startups Accelerator: Climate Change Middle East & Africa Program
9 June 2023 1:54pm
Celebrating World Oceans Day: Revitalizing the marine ecosystem with technology-driven engineered reefs to accelerate CO2 capture
9 June 2023 10:14am
As we celebrate World Oceans Day this month, we are reminded that addressing climate change will take more than any one organization. It will require companies, governments, NGOs and communities, all working together, with the aid of technology, to improve the efficiencies of our activities and operations and to reduce costs, waste and emissions. Such an example is IBM and The Reef Company recently joining forces signing a joint initiative agreement aimed at bolstering their ocean conservation endeavors.
Imageomics Institute Image Datapalooza, August 2023
2 June 2023 11:44pm
ISO Speakers for Emerging Technologies class.
31 May 2023 4:29pm
31 May 2023 10:21pm
Definitely interested! I'm in the ecoacoustics/acoustic monitoring space, working at Rainforest Connection and Arbimon.
2 June 2023 2:08pm
Carly, that would be great! Thanks! I work with soundscapes and love the work of Rainforest Connection! I'll send you an email (@CUNY) to coordinate!
10 AI for the Planet Projects you should be excited about
25 May 2023 11:07am
Looking for AI volunteer positions
24 May 2023 5:41am
24 May 2023 3:45pm
Hi Donya! You might check out the Conservation Tech Directory to see what projects/organizations/tools best align with your interests and skills.
Director of Research
Mbaza AI recognized by UNESCO & new team member
17 May 2023 8:49pm
Happywhale: AI-Powered Whale Identification
16 May 2023 10:00am
Lecturer/Associate Professor of Ecology and Innovative Technologies
16 May 2023 9:25am
Deadline Approaching: Conservation Tech Award
15 May 2023 10:21pm
Photo Quadrats, AI, and MERMAID: A Case Study from Mozambique
12 May 2023 3:44pm
AI for Conservation Office Hours: 2023 Review
11 May 2023 10:00am
Crowdsourcing individual ID for pop dyn?
1 May 2023 5:36pm
5 May 2023 6:15pm
That sounds like a really neat project! Do fish get re-caught often enough that individual ID is useful? Is sample bias (more data from popular spots) an issue?
27 March 2022 10:19pm
Sounds good, Peter! I'll keep an eye out for your reply. Thanks a lot & kudos to your great effort!
- Divya