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
- | He/Him/His
Centre for Wildlife Studies
Tech & Partnerships at CWS | Tech4Good | Sustainability | Biodiversity | Climate Action | Heartfulness
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- @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.
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- @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.
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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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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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Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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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 | 2 months 1 week 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 | 2 months 1 week 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 | 2 months 2 weeks 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 | 3 months 1 week 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 | 3 months 1 week 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 | 3 months 2 weeks 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 | 3 months 2 weeks ago | |
Hi Phani,An entry point might be to participate in a challenge related to conservation on:KaggleDrivenDataFruitPunchMax Planck Institute of Animal BehaviorYou could also reach out... |
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AI for Conservation | 3 months 3 weeks ago | |
[oops, the same reply got submitted twice and there doesn't seem to be a "delete" button] |
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AI for Conservation, Camera Traps | 3 months 3 weeks ago | |
Hi @zhongqimiao ,Might you have faced such an issue while using mega detectorThe conflict is caused by:pytorchwildlife 1.0.2.13 depends on torch==1.10.1pytorchwildlife 1.0.2.12... |
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AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Open Source Solutions | 3 months 3 weeks ago | |
Hi, this is pretty interesting to me. I plan to fly a drone over wild areas and look for invasive species incursions. So feral hogs are especially bad, but in the Everglades there... |
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AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Open Source Solutions, Software and Mobile Apps | 3 months 3 weeks ago | |
Gotcha, well I look forward to seeing future iterations and following along with your progress!! |
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Autonomous Camera Traps for Insects, AI for Conservation, Emerging Tech, Open Source Solutions | 3 months 3 weeks ago |
Automatically detect animals in camera trap images and filter out the empties
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@antoineede @divyar EcoAssist is now also available on Windows and Linux:
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Thanks, @pvlun,@pvlun we are going to try it to develop a model for feral cat and rat detection in camera trap.
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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!
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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
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Happywhale: AI-Powered Whale Identification
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Crowdsourcing individual ID for pop dyn?
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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