With experts across the WILDLABS community working with every type of technology and in every imaginable environment, our platform is a great place to find advice and resources on choosing what tools are right for your conservation project. Whether you're in the market to try a new camera trap model, want to experiment with drones for the first time, or need help weighing the pros and cons of data management tools, there's someone in the WILDLABS community who can help you make a smart and informed choice!
The Community Base is our general gathering group. It's the place where we cover more general, big picture topics in conservation technology - ones that don't fit neatly into our other groups. If you don't know where to post something, just post it in this group. Our moderators will move it if needed!
At our Community Base, you'll find updates from the WILDLABS team on upcoming events and opportunities, and have the chance to shape our programs and platform with your opinions. And most importantly, the Community Base is also home to our Welcome to WILDLABS thread, the best place to introduce yourself to us and the community. Stop by and tell us what you're working on!
Whether you're new to WILDLABS and want to know where to begin, or you're a longtime member looking for a handy bank of resources, our Getting Started on WILDLABS thread will be your one-stop guide to getting the most out of our platform.
Want to find out more about WILDLABS? Check out our recent community call:
Header image: Ana Verahrami/Elephant Listening Project
Group curators
- @StephODonnell
- | She / Her
WILDLABS & Fauna & Flora
I'm the Executive Manager at WILDLABS.
- 152 Resources
- 668 Discussions
- 30 Groups
- @TaliaSpeaker
- | She/her
WILDLABS & World Wide Fund for Nature/ World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
I'm the WILDLABS Research Specialist at WWF-US
- 13 Resources
- 56 Discussions
- 24 Groups
- @EllieW
- | She/Her
- 64 Resources
- 124 Discussions
- 14 Groups
Petnerup
Animal tech startup founder
- 0 Resources
- 2 Discussions
- 9 Groups
Studying Biodiversity, Wildlife, and Ecosystem Health @ UEdi. Professionally software engineer, program manager, developer educator
- 0 Resources
- 5 Discussions
- 3 Groups
- @Mumonkan
- | he / him
Wild Me
Software Engineer for Wildlife Conservation
- 0 Resources
- 4 Discussions
- 11 Groups
WILDLABS
This account is managed by the WILDLABS Team. Tag us or DM whenever you need help from our community team.
- 19 Resources
- 4 Discussions
- 11 Groups
- @frides238
- | She/her
Hi! I am Frida Ruiz, a current Mechanical Engineering undergraduate student very interested in habitat restoration & conservation. I am excited to connect with others and learn about technology applications within applied ecology & potential research opportunities
- 0 Resources
- 4 Discussions
- 13 Groups
University of Washington
Working towards community-focused conservation tech
- 1 Resources
- 6 Discussions
- 1 Groups
- @cleo
- | She/Her
Southern African Wildlife College
I am ecologist working in African conservation areas who loves wildlife & wild landscapes. I increasingly recognize that conservation is about people, especially those living in & around protected areas. Finding ways to benefit marginalized people is my passion.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 14 Groups
- @vandita_shukla
- | she/her
PhD candidate studying drone flight planning for enabling tracking and identification of individual characteristics of wildlife; member of the WildDrone, an MSCA Doctoral Network funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 20 Groups
Movement Ecologist studying the where, why, and how animals move throughout our world. Current work is investigating the movement and energetics of large neotropical bats in a changing environment with ephemeral resources.
- 0 Resources
- 23 Discussions
- 22 Groups
- @tom_august
- | he/him
Computational ecologist with interests in computer vision, citizen science, open science, drones, acoustics, data viz, software engineering, public engagement
- 6 Resources
- 49 Discussions
- 5 Groups
- @Ariel
- | they/them
Ariel is passionate about centering both our environment and social justice and using data to support nature-based solutions to the poly-crisis, and they are particularly interested in mycelium, soil health, forestry, agriculture, ecosystems, conservation, and restoration.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 3 Groups
GreenLab
- 0 Resources
- 19 Discussions
- 8 Groups
The Ecological Acoustics and Behavior Lab at the University of New Hampshire seeks a PhD student to join our lab to investigate how forest habitat affects moose occupancy and soundscape in northern New Hampshire
13 February 2024
The primary focus of the research is to explore how red deer movements, space use, habitat selection and foraging behaviour change during the wolf recolonization process.
10 February 2024
The conclusion of the WILDLABS Awards 2024 selection process is imminent! Our external judging panel is currently deliberating to determine the 14 chosen projects. Meet them!
9 February 2024
The Wildlife Restoration Foundation is hiring a Conservation Technology Intern
8 February 2024
The Conservation Technology Laboratory within the Population Sustainability department is seeking two fellows for summer 2024.
9 January 2024
With the support of Women in Conservation Technology (Kenya) and Arm, I had a chance to work with Kijabe Environment Volunteers in Kikuyu Escarpment Forest. This was an opportunity to channel my passion for the...
1 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
More information for those interested in our newly launched WILDLABS Awards, supporting 14 outstanding conservation technology projects with $60,000, $30,000, and $10,000 grants. Read carefully ahead of submitting your...
1 December 2023
Careers
NSERC-CREATE graduate programs (LEADS & LINK-D) on the theme of scientific leadership for global sustainability in the digital age.
27 November 2023
Gain communication skills while translating global freshwater conservation issues into a local context.
27 November 2023
TagRanger® is a state-of-the-art wildlife finding, monitoring and tracking solution for research, conservation and environmental professionals. With superior configurability for logging data, reporting location and...
23 November 2023
June 2024
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August 2024
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October 2024
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July 2023
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Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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I am also super keen to see what peeps are interested in here. Maybe a video tutorial series of attempted fixes (e.g. trail cameras; collars) or teardowns? Various hacks and re-... |
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Community Base | 11 months 3 weeks ago | |
Here's another article I came across about tracking gear powered by animal movement, which would drastically reduce the need for batteries and increase the lifespan of biologging... |
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Climate Change, Community Base | 11 months 3 weeks ago | |
Did we send you an invite to our workshop? I know you were on the list! We're organising a few networking things, including an event in partnership with EFN, Rufford Foundation,... |
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Community Base | 1 year ago | |
Hello all! Bluspark is a plateform that allows natural area managers such as natural parks or reserves to optimize their day to day... |
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Citizen Science, Community Base, Connectivity, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Ethics of Conservation Tech, Protected Area Management Tools, Software and Mobile Apps | 1 year 1 month ago | |
Here's a new one for your calendar! Circle the dates for this year's EarthRanger User Conference. Hosted in Cape Town from 1-5 November 2023, the EarthRanger User Conference... |
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Community Base | 1 year 1 month ago | |
Hey everyone,On Thursday 11th May, Howard Frederick from Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute will be covering a Tech... |
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Community Base, East Africa Community, Protected Area Management Tools | 1 year 1 month ago | |
Posting this with the caveat that I have NOT listened to this yet so it's not an endorsement. I have skimmed the accompanying article though and found it through Simon Gardener... |
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Community Base | 1 year 1 month ago | |
Hi Carly, many thanks for getting back to me and apologies for the slow reply. The internet has been down here for the last week. We do not currently do any acoustic monitoring... |
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Community Base | 1 year 2 months ago | |
I'm obviously quite biased, but always looking for more acoustic monitoring stuff! ;) I think all conferences nowadays should be hybrid. We obviously have the capacity to do... |
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Community Base | 1 year 3 months ago | |
Hi everyone,I am conducting a ~10 minute survey which I hope you can fill out and share with your networks... |
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Conservation Tech Training and Education, Community Base | 1 year 4 months ago | |
intrested. |
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Community Base, Data management and processing tools, Early Career, Emerging Tech | 1 year 5 months ago | |
Hi Steph. Would be interested also. |
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Biologging, Community Base, Connectivity, Data management and processing tools, Emerging Tech, Remote Sensing & GIS | 1 year 5 months ago |
Connecting the Dots: A discussion on Private and Public Partnership and driving impact for our world
10 October 2022 12:32pm
Conservation Technology Event - UK, late 2020
16 March 2020 1:51pm
6 October 2022 12:31pm
The year that never was... *sigh*
Yeah, taking another shot at it would be nice. There was much enthusiasm from folks at the time!
Frontiers Symposium: Digital tools for reversing environmental degradation
5 October 2022 10:23am
Roddenberry Foundation’s Catalyst Fund
4 October 2022 11:13am
Conservation Tech Directory - new update!
29 August 2022 2:38pm
23 September 2022 5:26pm
Congrats on the milestone Carly and Gracie!
26 September 2022 10:07pm
Thanks so much!!
Your favorite conservation tech blogs and writers
21 September 2022 9:17pm
26 September 2022 8:06pm
I love @davethau's work! Particularly the GAIA series he did on Medium - https://medium.com/@davethau.
26 September 2022 8:15pm
Eugh me too! Ellie's been working with him to see if we might have him blog here as well.. *FINGERS CROSSED*!
NSF Activate Fellowship
26 September 2022 7:22pm
New Platform Help: How do I...?
6 May 2022 9:36am
1 September 2022 8:57pm
Ha, I literally said the same thing after posting my last link - 280 is so much less than you think. We're going to increase it a bit. We are still going to keep the editing tools minimal, that was purposeful. We don't want every type of post to behave exactly the same as it gets confusing. Links are intended to be straightfoward and quick, a link with a short description or commentary. Anything else you should be starting a proper discussion or creating a longer post.
7 September 2022 4:20pm
Another potential thing to add - maybe getting more specific than country on location? Like adding state/province/city? To make the member directory searchable on a smaller geographic scale. I've seen lots of posts recently on Bioacoustics Stack Exchange, AI for Conservation Slack, & others looking for people based in a particular region or city and it got me thinking about how the WILDLABS member directory could provide that. Just a thought!
23 September 2022 3:36pm
Thanks Carly! I'll pop this on the list of features to discuss with developers. Putting broader regions on the existing list might be possible. It could also be useful to get more specific but it might require re-working how the filter works or adding more filters. Maybe at some stage we could have a big wildlabs member map (although that might potentially lead to some data privacy issues).
In the meantime some people put their city in their bio, which is searchable on the members section.
WILDLABS Digest: 23 September 2022
23 September 2022 12:05pm
Our latest WILDLABS Community digest has just hit inboxes! Don't have time to keep up with everything that's happening in the conservation tech world? This email is for you!
Workshop: Building UK Partnerships for Conservation Technology
22 September 2022 3:02pm
Catch Up with The Variety Hour: November 2022
22 September 2022 2:12pm
Catch Up with the Variety Hour: October 2022
22 September 2022 1:59pm
WILDLABS Journal Club
15 September 2022 11:42am
15 September 2022 12:17pm
Ah Journal club - this was a lot of fun but a little chaotic. We've been wondering if we should bring it back with a slightly different format. ie we all agree on a paper to read before rather than bringing a mix of things to present. What does everyone think? Is anyone else keen? Is there a format you'd suggest we use?
15 September 2022 3:49pm
I have been waiting for journal club to come back!! 10000% down.
I agree with @StephODonnell, would love it to come back!!! And now that variety hour is happening, that's more of the "mix of things" that she mentioned anyways so I think that new format would be great.
Closing soon: WILDLABS State of Conservation Tech Survey 2022
14 September 2022 12:42am
#Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge Countdown
8 September 2022 11:03pm
Join the #Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge!
8 September 2022 10:21pm
Starting today: Join the 7th annual #Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge!
6 September 2022 10:06am
7 September 2022 8:37pm
Survey for Doctoral Research on Poaching in Protected Areas
29 August 2022 10:43pm
Catch Up with the WILDLABS Variety Hour: August 2022
10 August 2022 11:44am
Survey: The role and applicability of block-chain technology in conservation survey
3 August 2022 3:28pm
Any results coming out of this survey that you would like to share?
What are your biggest sustainability challenges and issues in your work?
27 June 2022 4:18pm
29 June 2022 12:39am
Hey all!
I mentioned that on Friday, we'd update this post with all the sustainability conversations happening across our platform, but I wanted to flag this great Twitter thread right now in case anyone wants to jump in! Lots of interesting conversation about challenges with transporting batteries to field sites on planes and using rechargeable batteries in the comments.
Check it out here:
7 July 2022 12:19pm
Hi David,
Yes and no. A lot of organizations have realized that we also need to talk about co-benefits in such projects, especially when it comes to biodiversity. So, it's definitely not only about carbon anymore. however, most players struggle on how to measure and communicate biodiversity impacts. At WWF, we partnered for instance with Restor, who is trying to incorporating biodiversity
1 August 2022 5:57pm
During a volunteer project, I ran into some stupefying experiences with camera traps, one of those 'corner stones', it seems, of nature conservation research.
Everybody who works with camera traps knows it, but it was new to me, and I think it can't hurt to point out the glaringly obvious here:
They consume no less than 8 AA batteries per run. I've seen a project description boasting the use of 200 camera traps if I remember correctly. That is 1600 batteries and I sure hope they are able to retrieve every single one of them.
Secondly, the manual of the camera trap that I had purchased explicitly discouraged the use of rechargeable batteries. I tried it anyways and indeed, the camera seems to run shorter on them. Tip to myself for next time : download and read the manual first before purchasing.
Thirdly, in the country where I did the volunteer project it was completely unclear if there was a battery recycling system in place. It seemed to depend on the town and private initiative. The question now is to which extent camera traps for nature conservation are used in countries with a proper recycling system?
Fourthly, the project had a couple of camera traps that 'didn't work'. A few of these just needed some spraying with contact spray helped ( a whole different topic, but what is the environmental impact of contact spray? Does that weigh up to replacing the electronics? ). A few others seemed to suffer from the same problem. They contain a button cell that seems to power the clock and perhaps some other functions when the AA batteries are lacking. This button cell had gone bad, that is, rusted away. In the traps that I checked, the button cell was soldered to the electronics board. I had no means to replace them, so I do not know for sure that the faulty cell was the source of the problem. This really is a disclaimer, the camera traps seemed pretty old, and other things might caused the malfunction.
I found only one online source about these button cells in camera traps. It is listed below.
At least it indicates that this happens more often and that the cell is probably not rechargeable. If so, I find it a major design flaw. Would it not be better to make the button cells replaceable and /or rechargeable? Or do without them completely?
See
SOLVED: Identify faulty soldered PCB Lithium button cell replacement battery - Miscellaneous Electronics
Hi @steveout , If the board is still working try measuring the voltage on the battery when power is connected to the board or disconnect the battery from the board and measure the voltage on the board at the battery connections to get the o/c voltage reading This should give you a good idea as to... - Miscellaneous Electronics
iFixit
Get to Know WILDBEAR Awardee Alyssa Bohart
27 July 2022 10:12pm
Equipment Swap Meet/Giveaways
17 April 2019 2:28pm
25 October 2019 9:43pm
Hi Carl,
No problem and happy to go with the name you are most comfortable with. Looking forward to saying hi at the virtual meetup!
Cheers,
Rob
1 July 2022 7:48pm
Hi all!
Just wanted to drop in and share that we're having a lot of discussions around sustainability right now, and we're thinking about how the conservation tech community can recycle old tools in sustainable ways. Swaps and exchanges feel like they fit perfectly into that conversation!
If any of you would like to drop into this discussion thread on practical steps toward sustainability and share your experiences with swapping tools, we'd love to hear from you!
Current and future steps toward sustainability in conservation tech? | WILDLABS
We’re exploring big questions in conservation tech sustainability as we build our next editorial series focusing on that very subject. As a global community focusing on creating positive impact in conservation, we see a huge opportunity to work together on lessening any negative impacts on the environment! What steps do you already take to make your conservation tech work more sustainable? (Ex: Recycling batteries, trading, repairing, or donating older equipment, consciously planning travel to the field to reduce your carbon footprint, etc.) Do you have practical steps in mind that we could take together to make our field more sustainable? And just as importantly, what “blue-sky” big ideas should our community reach for in terms of sustainability?We'd love to hear more from our growing climate change community as this discussion grows, so please chime in with your thoughts!
wildlabsnet26 July 2022 6:40pm
Hi all doing some spring cleaning. Just pay shipping.
I have:
-20 new Taoglas FXUB63 Ultra Wide Band Antenna 698-3000MHz we don't need. The ones that come with Boron's.
FXUB63.54.0150C | DigiKey Electronics
Order today, ships today. FXUB63.54.0150C – 829MHz, 1.575GHz, 1.85GHz, 1.9625GHz, 2.45GHz, 2.595GHz LTE, ISM, Wi-Fi Flat Patch RF Antenna 698MHz ~ 960MHz, 1.71GHz ~ 1.99GHz, 1.755GHz ~ 2.17GHz, 2.4GHz ~ 2.5GHz, 2.5GHz ~ 2.69GHz 4.5dBi, 2.33dBi, 4.6dBi, 4.7dBi, 4.4dBi, 4dBi IPEX MHF4L Adhesive from Taoglas Limited. Pricing and Availability on millions of electronic components from Digi-Key Electronics.
DigiKey Electronics-90 Phoenix Contact TERM BLK 4P SIDE ENT 5.08MM PCB
1017505 | DigiKey Electronics
Order today, ships today. 1017505 – 4 Position Wire to Board Terminal Block Horizontal with Board 0.200" (5.08mm) Through Hole from Phoenix Contact. Pricing and Availability on millions of electronic components from Digi-Key Electronics.
DigiKey Electronics-45 Omron RELAY GEN PURPOSE SPST 10A 12V, G5LE-1A DC12
G5LE-1A DC12 | DigiKey Electronics
Order today, ships today. G5LE-1A DC12 – General Purpose Relay SPST-NO (1 Form A) 12VDC Coil Through Hole from Omron Electronics Inc-EMC Div. Pricing and Availability on millions of electronic components from Digi-Key Electronics.
DigiKey ElectronicsWe have so much stuff we'll never use. Will post more as I sort through it. If you need something in particular let me know. Might get lucky.
If by chance someone knows where I could find some ATSAMD21G18A-MFT or similar let me know!
Introducing WILDBEAR Awardee Alyssa Bohart
22 July 2022 12:27am
Tech Tutors East Africa: Call for Topics and Speakers
19 July 2022 9:28am
19 July 2022 11:41am
Definitely second doing one on SMART! It's been asked about before a number of times in other virtual events so I think the need/want is for sure there.
19 July 2022 12:20pm
100%! Also heard many asking about SMART Connect & Mobile, and their integration with other software.
Thank you for your input :)
Call for Abstracts for #AGU22 Fall Meeting: Applications of Earth Observations for Addressing Environmental and Development Challenges in Africa
18 July 2022 6:43am
Conservation Data Coordinator
15 July 2022 11:02am
Writing Bootcamp: Ask the WILDLABS Editor
6 July 2022 8:29pm
7 July 2022 12:10am
Awesome! We were wondering about writing on WildLabs now that you can publish articles to specific topics. My writing skills are a bit rusty too. Looking forward to the article series :)
14 July 2022 3:11am
Thanks Akiba, hope you liked the series and found it helpful! Can't wait to see what you share! If you ever need someone to help brainstorm ideas on how to approach specific topics, drop in here anytime!
Service Designer
13 July 2022 9:05am
Writing Bootcamp: Shaping Your Story
7 July 2022 10:10pm
1 September 2022 11:14am
Ha!
We really should come back to this!