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!
World Wide Fund for Nature/ World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
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- @Dominik
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PhD Student on bio- and ecoacoustics at the University of Freiburg (GER)
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- 2 Groups
- @rowan
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Octophin Digital
Jack of all Trades. I've been a zoo keeper, a conservation geneticist and a web developer who specialises in conservation projects and orgs.
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Senior web developer and ML practitioner
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- @nora.gourmelon
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PhD candidate in Computer Science working on Computer Vision for glacier front delineation in synthetic aperture radar satellite images
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Working on Human wildlife conflicts and animal invasive species management
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- 47 Discussions
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- @kyliedefeo
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Recent data science graduate from the University of New England in Maine, USA. Looking to enter the field of data science with a focus on environmental and social issues.
- 0 Resources
- 1 Discussions
- 4 Groups
- @Tjomme
- | He/Him
Building a community of AI professionals working on the Sustainable Development Goals.
- 4 Resources
- 3 Discussions
- 4 Groups
Founder of Wildya & Wild Business Mates / With Wildya - I combine nature & personal development / With Wild Business Mates - I help biodiversity heroes like you to get better at business
- 3 Resources
- 3 Discussions
- 2 Groups
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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- 18 Discussions
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Worked as a mechanical engineer for a defence co, then software engineer, then for a research lab specialising in underwater robotics.
- 1 Resources
- 132 Discussions
- 16 Groups
Two-year postdoc in AI and remote sensing for citizen-science pollinator monitoring, at Aarhus University. The successful candidate will integrate our computational entomologist team to develop and deploy novel methods...
4 December 2023
Funding
With $60,000, $30,000, and $10,000 grants available for 14 outstanding projects, the support of engineering and technology talent from Arm (the leading semiconductor design company), and access to the world’s biggest...
1 December 2023
Join the Rainforest Connection & Arbimon team to develop software for biodiversity monitoring!
14 November 2023
Yale University & Map of Life Rapid Assessments - XPRIZE
8 November 2023
Yale University & Map of Life Rapid Assessments - XPRIZE
8 November 2023
Careers
The Institute for Bird Populations (IBP) seeks a California-based acoustic monitoring specialist to collect, manage, and process avian acoustic data from multiple research and conservation projects across California...
26 October 2023
Join the NightLife team where you'll blend entomology expertise with technological innovation using automated insect monitoring.
25 October 2023
Have you created a successful career in tech and are ready to do something good with your skills and experience? If yes, then join Open Earth's Earthshot mission to build open source digital systems and solutions to...
25 October 2023
Careers
The Institute of Zoology (IoZ), the research division of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), is seeking to fill three new permanent positions by recruiting outstanding early-career researchers as Research Fellows (...
20 October 2023
To study song evolution in time and space, we will use individual acoustic monitoring (IAM) - a non-invasive method that allows the identification of individuals based solely on their vocalisations. In this project, we...
20 October 2023
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie PhD Fellowship in Bioacoustic AI for wildlife protection. The PhD position advertised here will be based at the KU Leuven Electrical Engineering Department (ESAT), under the supervision of...
20 October 2023
FLOATERS: Using individually distinct vocalizations to estimate breeding and non-breeding population of a species. Apply for the fully funded PhD position now!
20 October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
event
Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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And here's how I would explain it to the government officials in a power point. I'm making the point that the wolves have been shooed away. |
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AI for Conservation | 3 minutes 2 seconds ago | |
Hi All,I understand Okala are doing a lot of work with ML and cameratraps, you could try and contact them. |
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AI for Conservation, Camera Traps | 2 days 3 hours ago | |
Hi Sol,I think your concern is well placed. The pros typically tow an array of hydrophones, in its simpler configuration it looks like a long fat rubber hose containing... |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Marine Conservation, Sustainable Fishing Challenges | 2 weeks 2 days ago | |
Hello Sam,What would you say would be the estimate cost was for the first version Instant Detect 1.0 ? That might help my research ? |
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AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Sensors | 2 weeks 3 days ago | |
We are writing a methodology to measure Biodiversity density in habitats.Examining lots of different options but very keen to hear from... |
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AI for Conservation | 3 weeks 2 days ago | |
Hi @GermanFore ,I work with the BearID Project on individual identification of brown bears from faces. More recently we worked on face detection across all bear species and ran... |
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AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Data management and processing tools, Software and Mobile Apps | 1 month ago | |
I love the live-stream pin feature! |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Citizen Science, Emerging Tech | 1 month ago | |
Bird Sounds Global's pilot project produced high-quality training data for parameterizing machine learning models.Full article here: ... |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Citizen Science, Software and Mobile Apps | 1 month 1 week ago | |
Hey Wildlabbers! Is anyone planning to go to the Academic Data Science Alliance (ADSA) annual meeting next week in San Antonio? I'll be... |
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AI for Conservation, Community Base | 1 month 2 weeks ago | |
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... |
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AI for Conservation, Autonomous Camera Traps for Insects, Camera Traps | 2 months 1 week ago | |
Hello! If you were interested in the DSAIL Tech4Wildlife Workshop last week exploring how AI can be used to aid conservation efforts, you... |
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AI for Conservation, Conservation Tech Training and Education | 2 months 2 weeks ago | |
Hey everyone!I am brand new to conservation technology and I am trying to find my way. I currently work in a different field and want to... |
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AI for Conservation, Climate Change, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Drones, Early Career, Earth Observation 101 Community, Emerging Tech, Open Source Solutions, Remote Sensing & GIS, Sensors, Software and Mobile Apps | 2 months 3 weeks ago |
Accessible Tech and Real Impact with the WILDLABS Fellowship: On the Edge

9 August 2021 12:00am
WILDLABS Community Call: August 12th

4 August 2021 12:00am
Tech Tutors: How do I get started with Wildlife Insights?
29 July 2021 12:04am
Wildlife Insights Launches

27 July 2021 12:00am
Tech Tutors: How do I get started with Megadetector?
22 July 2021 3:34pm
Opportunity: Lead an ML Workshop

21 July 2021 12:00am
How do I get started with Wildlife Insights?

19 July 2021 12:00am
How do I get started with Megadetector?

7 July 2021 12:00am
WILDLABS Tech Tutors: Season 3

6 July 2021 12:00am
How do I choose the right camera trap(s) based on interests, goals, and species?

6 July 2021 12:00am
BearID Featured: Artificial Intelligence & Other New Technology In Bear Research

1 July 2021 12:00am
PhDs (or MSc) in tech + nature conservation ?
28 April 2021 9:16am
26 May 2021 9:14pm
carlybatist, I can help with python. Is there anything you or people in your network may need help?
About ML - can you tell 3 main challenges you'd think as priority in conservation, that ML can be helpful ? Also, anything that also small NGOs may struggle to work on, due to limited budget / IT capacity, and so they may benefit from freelancers ? Large NGOs or international agencies will likely work with established companies. I'ìd like to know if there could be a niche were I can interact directly with NGOs and philantropic institutions, both for supporting with services, as well for listening to feedback to project proposals that could benefit from mutual collaborations (e.g. tech pilot + fundraising = startup and product iterations with lower costs).
Also, can you mention a few activities / roles that may offer both outdoor + analytics / tech skills ?
Piorirty is outdoor for me. But since I have a few tech skills and management skills, im trying to trade them!
26 May 2021 10:04pm
You should join the Key Conservation app, which connects people and NGO's for specific needs, whether funding, time, or skills (programming included). Organizations can list particular things they need and you can get day-to-day updates on progress.
In terms of how ML is used in conservation, it's mostly to process the large datasets yielded by conservation tech (camera traps, passive acoustics, biologging, remote sensing/GIS). Annotating detections (which pictures have animals, which species a call belongs to, where deforestation is happening through satellite imagery, etc.).
And lots of freelancing opportunities come up in Wildlabs - the community threads and the biweekly digest. Twitter is also great for finding those kinds of opportunities, search by relevant keywords or hashtags (e.g., #tech4wildlife). I would also start following conservation tech organizations on LinkedIn and Twitter or subscribing to their newsletters or listservs so you don't miss opportunities as they come up.
New Papers: Methods in Ecology and Evolution

23 April 2021 12:00am
New Papers: Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation

22 April 2021 12:00am
BirdCLEF 2021 Kaggle Challenge

19 April 2021 12:00am
Looking for animal emotions data for ML
17 March 2021 12:43pm
26 March 2021 4:06pm
There is a TON of research on ML algorithms for all this!
For facial rec-
BearID project - http://bearresearch.org/ (individual facial rec for grizzlies)
AnimalFACS (facial action coding system) - http://www.chimpfacs.com/ (the model started with chimps but they now have versions for orangutans, gibbons, macaques, dogs, cats, and horses)
A lot of the gesture/facial expression literature is focused on primates, particularly apes, so if you do a Google Scholar search on that, you'll loads of papers that have looked into this as well.
For vocals -
Carlson, N. V., Kelly, E. M., & Couzin, I. (2020). Individual vocal recognition across taxa: a review of the literature and a look into the future. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 375(1802), 20190479.
Turesson, H. K., Ribeiro, S., Pereira, D. R., Papa, J. P., & de Albuquerque, V. H. C. (2016). Machine learning algorithms for automatic classification of marmoset vocalizations. PloS one, 11(9), e0163041.
Wijers, M., Trethowan, P., Du Preez, B., Chamaillé-Jammes, S., Loveridge, A. J., Macdonald, D. W., & Markham, A. (2020). Vocal discrimination of African lions and its potential for collar-free tracking. Bioacoustics, 1-19.
Clink, D. J., Crofoot, M. C., & Marshall, A. J. (2019). Application of a semi-automated vocal fingerprinting approach to monitor Bornean gibbon females in an experimentally fragmented landscape in Sabah, Malaysia. Bioacoustics, 28(3), 193-209.
Spillmann, B., van Schaik, C. P., Setia, T. M., & Sadjadi, S. O. (2017). Who shall I say is calling? Validation of a caller recognition procedure in Bornean flanged male orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii) long calls. Bioacoustics, 26(2), 109-120.
Hantke, S., Cummins, N., & Schuller, B. (2018, April). What is my dog trying to tell me? The automatic recognition of the context and perceived emotion of dog barks. In 2018 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP) (pp. 5134-5138). IEEE.
Totakura, V., Janmanchi, M. K., Rajesh, D., & Hussan, M. T. (2020). Prediction of Animal Vocal Emotions Using Convolutional Neural Network. International Journal of Scientific & Technology Research, 9(2), 6007-6011.
Other -
Neethirajan, S., Reimert, I., & Kemp, B. (2021). Measuring Farm Animal Emotions—Sensor-Based Approaches. Sensors, 21(2), 553.
Hong, W., Kennedy, A., Burgos-Artizzu, X. P., Zelikowsky, M., Navonne, S. G., Perona, P., & Anderson, D. J. (2015). Automated measurement of mouse social behaviors using depth sensing, video tracking, and machine learning. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(38), E5351-E5360.
26 March 2021 7:44pm
Thank you VERY much for that, Carly. I really appreciate it. I have only heard of the bear research project and was not aware of the others. This is very helpful.
FYI: Most studies I am aware of use ML with facial recognition software. I am interested to find out if there are recognition software/research for facial-gesture-voice-speech as this will be more accurate to read animals that have less elastic facial expressions than primates or humans.
The 2021 #Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge: Community Highlights
25 March 2021 12:00am
Event: tinyML for Good: Conservation & Climate

22 March 2021 12:00am
Allen Coral Atlas - using machine learning to map coral reefs
17 March 2021 6:48pm
Building Experts Into AI

15 March 2021 12:00am
Kaggle Competition: iWildcam 2021 - FGVC8

12 March 2021 12:00am
Funding Opportunity: COVID-19 Science Fund

10 March 2021 12:00am
Resource: WildID

8 March 2021 12:00am
Looking help with camera trapping for Jaguars: Software for species ID and database building
23 February 2021 9:49pm
2 March 2021 3:44pm
Hi Carmina,
I definitely get not wanting to create another copy of your data, I realized this about Camelot just a little late, and we did have to buy a 4 TB external hard drive. The unique names that Camelot assigns to its copies of the data are also not friendly if you want to move things around.
I mentioned that Wild.ID is being more and more integrated with Wildlife Insights, but it can still be used as a standalone software. It has the same format as Camelot, but I think it doesn't create and additional copy (I might be wrong about this, though). You should take a look at this, it might be what you need.
As for detection, Camelot puts together batches of photos, uploads them to Microsoft's servers, and then gets the resulting database back. The model they use, however, is available and you can run it on your own computer. The AI model that it uses is called Megadetector. You used to have to run it from the command line, but recently Petar Gyurov posted this GUI that makes using Megadetector soooo much easier. You just tell the software where your photos are, and let it run. You can decide whether you trust it enough to sort your photos automatically, or check yourself. In most conditions it performs very well, you may have issues when you can only see parts of an animal behind some vegetation. The check would take less time than going through the raw pictures, since it marks boxes where it found things. You still have to identify the pictures after they're sorted. Megadetector will work on any computer, but it performs much faster if it has an Nvidia graphical card. However, setting this up is a little tricky.
Finally, the output from Megadetector can be integrated into the workflow of Timelapse, another software. I've never used this one so I can't really say how well it works.
Integrating everything can be a little intimidating, so feel free to ask if you need guidance for any of these steps.
Best,
Juan
4 March 2021 9:34pm
Hi.
Thanks a lot for your explanation. I decided to try megadetector but I'm dumb with computers and of course I don't have a Nvidia graphical card, can you help me?
If it is better for you to talk directly, you can write to [email protected]
I'm so happy I can finally see the light with so many photos :)
Thanks again
Carmina
4 March 2021 11:06pm
Sure thing, I'll email you directly.
Tech Tutors: How do I strategically allocate drones for conservation?
16 February 2021 1:01pm
Transparency, AI, and Machine Learning Conservation Impacts
3 February 2021 10:12pm
5 February 2021 2:21pm
Hello,
Just spit-balling some ideas, but you might check out WildMe/WildBook, Widlife Insights, the ICARUS/Movebank project, Arbimon, Norway's new imaging initiative (https://www.planet.com/nicfi/), Hack the Poacher, Vulcan's EarthRanger, SmartParks, the SMART app/platform, the TEAM camera trap network?
Not sure if any of this is what you're looking for but just some things that came to mind!
13 February 2021 12:14am
Thanks Carly,
These are great ideas. The movebank recommendation reminds me of some work from Save the Elephants that used its transparency to exonerate an elephant that had been accused of eating up some crops. I didn't know about Hack the Poacher - I'll check that out. I'm familiar with the others, but will dig deeper to understand the transparency angle. I work on Wildlife Insights, so know that one well. TEAM has essentially morphed into Wildlife Insights as I understand things.
Thanks again!
Best,
Thau
Windows explorer video thumbnails
26 September 2019 9:31am
12 February 2021 7:10pm
This works very well, and can remove the movie strip icons from the edges of the thumbnails, which obscure animals just coming into the frame. https://icaros.en.softonic.com/
Intro to Embedded Machine Learning on Coursera

9 February 2021 12:00am
Tech Tutors: How do How do I launch machine learning projects using MLOps?
3 February 2021 12:08pm
5 February 2021 7:16pm
Dan's comments about the need for technologists and conservationists to manage and share (properly annotated) data struck a chord with me, it was right at the end of the presentation.
I fired off a point into the chat "could your old background data be my background data?" or something similar, and it got me thinking...
(Firstly, sorry for clouding this issue with my simultaneous "Ian Tuna" joke)
In the context of using AI as described in EdgeImpulse example, lets say - audio.
Lets say Group A are trying to detect the roar of lions, and Group B are trying to detect the grunt of wild pigs, and lets imagine that is in roughly the same area of Africa. I mean they could both send out teams to capture the sound of their target animal, and the sound of NOT their target animal, e.g everything else.
Well if "serengetti sounds" was a known audio track, then all you need is the unique sound of the beast in question, am I right?
Seeking interviewees - AI in Conservation & nonprofits
9 December 2020 6:20am
16 January 2021 7:13am
Hi @Alex.L , I would suggest the same as for @mattzig at https://www.wildlabs.net/community/thread/1046#post-4348 :
I could try to connect you with some of the people and orgs we have worked with. If you go through https://www.vizzuality.com/project/ and identify the projects you would like to be look into, I can then try to connect you with the best person for each project.
And I would be very interested in learning more about your research group's work, besides your current research question, if possible!
Happy New Year! Luisa
28 January 2021 6:40am
HI Luisa,
Thank you so much for your help! I will definitely take a look at your organisation project list. I will be messaging you directly shortly. I would be glad to discuss my research group if it interest you.
Best,
Alex
4 February 2021 3:48pm
Hi Alex, that sounds great! Feel free to email me at [email protected], that may be simpler.
26 May 2021 5:09pm
I think programming and machine learning are what I wish I did in uni the most. Particularly Python coding. Most biologists use R/Rstudio but Python is more popular in the tech world. And machine learning is taking over everything, conservation included, so it's definitely a high-demand skill.