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
- 3 Groups
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 4 Groups
- @Sumit_Arora
- | He/Him/His
Centre for Wildlife Studies
Tech & Partnerships at CWS | Tech4Good | Sustainability | Biodiversity | Climate Action | Heartfulness
- 0 Resources
- 1 Discussions
- 4 Groups
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 8 Groups
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 9 Groups
- @BrunaTeixeira
- | She
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.
![WILDLABS Event Speaker](/sites/default/files/styles/square_thumbnail/public/2024-02/WILDLABS%20Event%20Speaker_0.png?itok=94TUk9ZY)
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 2 Groups
- @lhughey
- | she/her
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.
![WILDLABS Event Speaker](/sites/default/files/styles/square_thumbnail/public/2024-02/WILDLABS%20Event%20Speaker_0.png?itok=94TUk9ZY)
![Poster level 1](/sites/default/files/styles/square_thumbnail/public/2024-02/Poster%201_4.png?itok=Tpfys5CO)
![Conversation starter level 2](/sites/default/files/styles/square_thumbnail/public/2024-02/Conversation%20starter%202_0.png?itok=SjMZG4Dk)
- 3 Resources
- 10 Discussions
- 3 Groups
Ol Pejeta Conservancy
IT Engineer at The Conservation Tech Lab in Ol Pejeta Conservancy. |Endeavoring to implement tech solutions for conservation.
![WILDLABS Event Speaker](/sites/default/files/styles/square_thumbnail/public/2024-02/WILDLABS%20Event%20Speaker_0.png?itok=94TUk9ZY)
![WILDLABS Research Participant](/sites/default/files/styles/square_thumbnail/public/2024-02/WILDLABS%20Research%20Participant_0.png?itok=kB0NRVvU)
![Commenter level 1](/sites/default/files/styles/square_thumbnail/public/2024-02/Commenter%201_0.png?itok=Qhj_yHVF)
- 0 Resources
- 18 Discussions
- 10 Groups
- @heiabb02
- | she/her
Early Career Wild Felid conservationist with BS in Biology & Zoology
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 6 Groups
- @hannahrisser
- | She/her
CEH
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 10 Groups
- @Mathilde
- | she/her
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.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 11 Groups
I am an enthusiastic computer scientist, fascinated by animals and I want to collaborate in conservation project ! :D
- 0 Resources
- 1 Discussions
- 3 Groups
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
August 2024
event
September 2024
event
event
event
October 2024
November 2024
December 2023
event
November 2023
event
61 Products
Recently updated products
15 Products
Recently updated products
Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
---|---|---|---|---|
Thank you so much! Now everything is in the hands of amazing organizations and companies! But the first results of the Disaster Management cohort are bringing a very optimistic... |
|
AI for Conservation, Climate Change, Early Career, East Africa Community, eDNA & Genomics, Emerging Tech, Ending Wildlife Trafficking Online, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Open Source Solutions | 2 weeks 1 day ago | |
great! |
|
AI for Conservation | 2 weeks 2 days ago | |
interesting!!! |
|
AI for Conservation, Biologging, Data management and processing tools | 2 weeks 2 days ago | |
so great!!! |
|
Software and Mobile Apps, AI for Conservation, Biologging | 2 weeks 2 days ago | |
Great!!! |
+32
|
AI for Conservation, Drones, Emerging Tech, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Wildlife Crime | 2 weeks 2 days ago | |
@bluevalhalla thanks for sharing the awesome video, sounds like a great project! |
|
AI for Conservation | 2 weeks 5 days ago | |
Hi everyone, I am conducting a research project as part of my MSc in Environment and Development at the London School of Economics. I... |
|
Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Autonomous Camera Traps for Insects, Ethics of Conservation Tech | 3 weeks 3 days ago | |
@cmwainaina please take a look |
|
Biologging, AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Connectivity, Data management and processing tools, East Africa Community, Emerging Tech, Ethics of Conservation Tech, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Marine Conservation, Protected Area Management Tools, Remote Sensing & GIS, Sensors, Software and Mobile Apps | 3 weeks 4 days ago | |
Glad to announce that a new tutorial is available on Firetail: |
|
AI for Conservation, Biologging | 1 month 1 week ago | |
The use of synthetic training data such as interpolated sequence values is common, but fraught with the issue of your synthetic signal generating features that are not true to... |
|
Data management and processing tools, AI for Conservation | 1 month 2 weeks ago | |
In that case, you might want to keep an eye on the project from @Lars_Holst_Hansen |
|
Camera Traps, AI for Conservation, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Early Career, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Protected Area Management Tools | 2 months ago | |
No worries! I'll be trying the other one to see how it works. Thank you for your help! |
|
AI for Conservation | 2 months 1 week 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
![](/sites/default/files/2023-05/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-16%20at%208.20.24%20AM.png)
16 May 2023 10:00am
Lecturer/Associate Professor of Ecology and Innovative Technologies
![](/sites/default/files/ucl-.png)
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
![](/sites/default/files/2023-05/jake.png)
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