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
- 665 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
- 12 Resources
- 55 Discussions
- 24 Groups
- @EllieW
- | She/Her
- 64 Resources
- 124 Discussions
- 14 Groups
Octophin Digital
Director at Octophin Digital building things for wildlife conservation.
- 1 Resources
- 21 Discussions
- 2 Groups
- @RHugtenburg
- | He/They
Student at Aberystwyth University. Bug Fanatic🪲. Worked at Octophin Digital for my industrial year placement 🐙.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 20 Groups
- @Mary_Waithira
- | she/her
I am a conservation enthusiast who aims at learning more about conservation and its technology. My research interests lie in wildlife conservation in anthropogenic landscapes.
- 1 Resources
- 1 Discussions
- 9 Groups
- @kara_birk
- | She/Her
Advancing the international partner engagement work of ABALOBI, a tech platform aimed at integrating small-scale fishers into information and resource networks.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 8 Groups
- @Robincrocs
- | He/Him//El//Ele
Wildlife biologist, works with Caimans and Crocodiles
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 14 Groups
International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
Key Biodiversity Areas Programme Officer, IUCN
- 0 Resources
- 89 Discussions
- 8 Groups
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 1 Groups
- @bcknr
- | He/Him
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 6 Groups
Drone Operator and Tech Developer
- 0 Resources
- 33 Discussions
- 9 Groups
Law student
- 0 Resources
- 1 Discussions
- 1 Groups
An environmentalist and biologist who has been working to inspire and prepare the next generation of conservationists through an inclusive and engaging learning environment.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 8 Groups
Teaching an undergraduate Conservation+Tech training program at UC Berkeley
- 0 Resources
- 6 Discussions
- 2 Groups
Save Our Seas (SOS) opened a call for small grants for 'original and innovative start-up projects' concerning marine chondrichthyan species (sharks, rays, skates, sawfishes and chimaeras). Projects can be in research,...
19 May 2024
Funding
The UK government's 'Reversing Environmental Degradation in Africa and Asia' program opened a call for applications for "locally led, multi-locational, research-to-action for restoration programmes".
19 May 2024
Do you have photos and videos of your conservation tech work? We want to include them in a conservation technology showcase video
17 May 2024
The Biodiversity Finance Initiative ( BIOFIN, a UNDP initiative ) launched a database with over 330 public and private funding opportunities.The Biodiversity Finance Initiative ( BIOFIN, a UNDP initiative ) launched a...
4 May 2024
Article
Read in detail about how to use The Inventory, our new living directory of conservation technology tools, organisations, and R&D projects.
1 May 2024
Article
The Inventory is your one-stop shop for conservation technology tools, organisations, and R&D projects. Start contributing to it now!
1 May 2024
Technology to End the Sixth Mass Extinction. Salary: $132 - $160k; Location: Seattle WA; 7+ years of experience in hardware product development and manufacturing; View post for full job description
1 May 2024
Tap into our new and exciting community-focused conversation series! In this first season of InConversation, we're in East Africa with host Esther Githinji. Listen in as we chat one-on-one with your favourite...
30 April 2024
Article
What better way to conclude InConversation Season 1: East Africa than by delving into the exciting yet complex world of #tech4wildlife innovation across the region. This episode is going to be double the insight and...
30 April 2024
The North Carolina Zoo seeks a dynamic, motivated and progressive individual to serve as the Associate Curator of International Conservation within the zoos’ Conservation, Education and Science (CES) program. The...
29 April 2024
It has been an extraordinary year supporting and growing the regional East African Conservation Technology Community at WILDLABS. We've made great strides and unlocked exciting opportunities for our community as we...
29 April 2024
Careers
Great opportunity to join our team! We are #hiring. We’re excited to announce that we’re looking for a talented individual to perform the role of Monitoring Team Lead. If you’re a great team player, we’d love to...
23 April 2024
May 2024
event
June 2024
event
October 2024
March 2023
event
event
February 2023
Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
---|---|---|---|---|
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... |
|
Acoustics, Community Base | 1 year 8 months ago | |
Hello. I am a PhD candidate at Penn State University. I submitted a post to this group back in March and I am resubmitting... |
|
Community Base, Data management and processing tools, Remote Sensing & GIS, Wildlife Crime | 1 year 8 months ago | |
Any results coming out of this survey that you would like to share? |
|
Community Base, Emerging Tech | 1 year 9 months ago | |
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... |
|
Community Base | 1 year 9 months ago | |
Hi all!Last week we introduced you to our first WILDBEAR Awardee, Alyssa Bohart. We hope you enjoyed learning more about Alyssa's work with... |
|
Biologging, Community Base | 1 year 9 months ago | |
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. ... |
+34
|
Community Base | 1 year 9 months ago | |
100%! Also heard many asking about SMART Connect & Mobile, and their integration with other software.Thank you for your input :) |
|
Community Base, East Africa Community | 1 year 10 months ago | |
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... |
|
Community Base | 1 year 10 months ago | |
Quick report on what we're doing on the technical side:First of all, so sorry that this has happened. We worked hard on spam prevention on the registration system and after lots... |
+2
|
Community Base | 1 year 10 months ago | |
Hi wildlabbers! Every second friday, we host a work out loud space here in the community. We host it the day our digest hits... |
|
Community Base | 1 year 10 months ago | |
Hi all!Dropping back in to share that we're thinking about how supply chain issues tie into our upcoming series on conservation tech sustainability. We've started a Twitter thread... |
+2
|
Community Base | 1 year 10 months ago | |
@gracieermi & I are happy to announce the latest update to the Conservation Tech Directory, bringing our total resources in the... |
|
Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Biologging, Camera Traps, Community Base, Data management and processing tools, Drones, eDNA & Genomics, Remote Sensing & GIS, Software and Mobile Apps | 1 year 10 months ago |
Students looking to speak with local stakeholders
20 November 2020 5:22am
Seeking reviewers for early-career funding applications
6 November 2020 2:37pm
Tech Tutors 2: What do you want to see?
22 October 2020 4:08pm
22 October 2020 7:22pm
Hi There,
Nice you opened up the agenda.
I want to see more things on how to build devices, from cases to connectivity. I would like to see something in particular (a hands-on with real things and applications): Satellite connectivity.
Something was mentioned on the wildlife drones episode, I would like to see more on that, from ready to use devices to boards to build your own devices, detailed things, including estimated costs for the services, coverage and the like, an easy to roadmap to implement those things would be nice.
Of course, I want to see more on drones, that would be interestering too, there is a lot of action by applying drones for wildlife care. I am paricularly interested in autonomous ones, I don't know if there is any advance on them.
Some specialists on image sensors would be also appreciated (infrared, non-military SWIR, LWIR, etc)
Landbased Sensors + Connectivity + Drones + LWIR = Early wildfire detection, that is something that affects Jaguars and all kind of wildlife!
Best Regards,
Carlos.
26 October 2020 2:16pm
LoRa/LoRawan for dummies! aka conservationists who think everyone is talking about a woman named Laura.... haha :)
As Carlos mentioned above, this would tie in with "satellite connectivity" more broadly.
27 October 2020 3:48pm
Hi Carly,
This Nov-29 will be the international Jaguar day. I am working on a massive update on my site, the Jag things, Tech4Nature or Tech4Wildlife as you call it, new devices, etc. I promise I will keep you in mind the moment I write things about LoRa/LoRaWan. In fact, I already started because I couldn't forget your comments about Laura!!! I have many things going on but I will finish it, that's a promise (for you, but specially for the Cats!!!)
The first point in your favor: It is great that you call it LoRa/LoRaWan. Many experts don't make that distinction.
Civic tech fellowships: deadline 10/31
26 October 2020 8:44pm
Getting Started in the WILDLABS Community
22 October 2020 9:29pm
TECH TUTORS: Tell us what you want to see!
16 April 2020 6:45pm
20 August 2020 2:06pm
As someone that just started using acoustic detectors to study bats, I think it might be interesting to hear more about the specifics and differences between available hardware and software solutions to monitor/detect bats.
20 August 2020 7:10pm
Love this idea, I'm so interested in the work our community members are doing with bats! Thanks for the suggestion!
11 September 2020 12:59pm
Tim,
Hi. the easy and short answer to that question is Wildlife Acoustics SM4bat or EMtouch, with Kaleidoscope Pro software. The longer answer is.. it depends, and I'm happy to chat more if you like. You'll need to decide between heterodyne, frequency-division, zero-crossing, time expansion or full-spectrum recording hardware systems. Automated or handheld? And do you want to build your own species recognizers, identify calls manually, or rely on existing proprietary (and paid for) identification software?
Thanks, Carlos
Take the WILDLABS Conservation Tech Survey 2020!
8 July 2020 1:06am
8 September 2020 4:44pm
So far we've heard from 244 respondents based in 33 countries. They have identified themselves mostly as conservation practitioners (27%), technologists (26%), and researchers (23%). We've seen more representation from male respondents (66%) than female ones (34%), and substantially higher response rates from North America and Europe than any other region, so please help us better represent the diversity of the community if you can. Forward the survey link to colleagues and encourage them to share their experiences: https://colostate.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4VJSlNr69Kg7o0Z
8 September 2020 4:48pm
Although discussing challenges is crucial, we also want to hear about what makes you optimistic about the future of conservation tech. Increasing accessibility of tools, a developing culture of collaboration, the rate at which the field is evolving, growing support from the conservation community, and the opportunities around big tech involvement have come up the most so far. What do you think?
8 September 2020 4:49pm
Obviously, we're barely scratching the surface here of the rich content we're excited to fully analyze and share back with you all. If you haven't taken the survey yet, now is the chance to have your say - it only takes about 13 minutes to complete. We know it's a busy time for everyone, but the more responses we get the more we can represent the reality of the complex experiences and perspectives we know this community holds. Follow this link to access the questionnaire and consent information, and let us know if you have any questions: https://colostate.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4VJSlNr69Kg7o0Z
Thank you all again for your time!
Facilitating Virtual Events: Helpful Resources + Q&A
19 August 2020 4:51pm
Recommendations for low cost & versatile teaching/training supplies
10 April 2020 2:02am
10 August 2020 1:47am
Hi all,
Teaching assistant here for the Fung Fellowship that Dan linked above. First of all, THANK you for the responses @carlybatist & @Rob Appleby. This has been extremely helpful for what type of technology we could introduce to students. We will report back with what we use this fall and student's feedback/comments/enthusiasm!
One point that is particularly relevant now is that this course will now be completely remote for the fall semester. Given that this will eliminate any opportunity for students to have hands-on time with a physical device...does anyone have any additional recommendations specifically that would work in a remote teaching environment?
Thank you in advance!
Andy
17 August 2020 4:03pm
Hi Andy,
My name is Elizabeth (Liz) Bondi, I'm a PhD Candidate in Computer Science at Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, advised by Prof. Milind Tambe. In brief, my research has primarily focused on using drones and AI for wildlife conservation.
As an intern at Microsoft Research with Dr. Ashish Kapoor, Dr. Debadeepta Dey, and Dr. Lucas Joppa, we built a simulated African savanna environment in Microsoft AirSim, and flew a simulated drone around it. Our goal was to create an automatically-labeled image dataset for training machine learning models, but I have also used it for demonstrations in the past to allow students to find specific animals while flying the drone around, for example. The AirSim environment will likely require GPUs, but perhaps access to the cloud (e.g., Microsoft Azure, Amazon AWS) could be purchased for students.
One other note, I believe Sara Beery also used AirSim for camera traps.
Please feel free to check out Microsoft AirSim and download the African savanna environment (download "Africa.zip"). Our papers (see "BIRDSAI" 2020 and "AirSim-W" 2018 papers in particular) and the dataset are also available for some more information. Please feel free to email me at [email protected] if you would like to discuss anything further.
Best,
Liz
18 August 2020 8:40pm
Awesome thank you Liz! We will check this resource out and reach out if we want to discuss more or have any questions.
Best,
Andy
Share your funniest field fails with us!
13 July 2020 10:47pm
5 August 2020 1:42am
Here's a video and a pic of a field fail on a project we did with Dr. Meredith Palmer. We designed and built an automated behavioral response system (ABRS) where we would play a sound when a camera trap was triggered and then record the video of the animal's response to it. Unfortunately the hyena's response to the sound of a prey was to eat the audio system.
Here's a link to the last video captured by the system:
https://youtu.be/h7SsuzAeJ5U
And here' s a pic of the aftermath:
Tools to do live translations?
4 August 2020 1:54pm
Survey: Cons Tech Needs Assessment
28 July 2020 7:17pm
29 July 2020 3:17am
Done. Good luck with the survey :)
Fun Quiz Alert: What Conservation Tech Tool Are You?
16 July 2020 7:40pm
17 July 2020 8:54pm
Got a drone myself
Tech Tutors Happy Hour: Thursday, July 16th
10 July 2020 6:22pm
13 July 2020 2:13am
Oh cool. Looking forward to the happy hour! I'm curious just to chat and virtually eavesdrop.
WILDLABS Community Survey Input: Ideas for 2020?
24 April 2020 4:29am
Survey: Conservation Tech Applications in Vietnam
23 April 2020 4:30am
Any experts on Amazonian deforestation?
14 April 2020 3:00am
Conservation Technology Database
18 July 2019 4:42pm
27 August 2019 9:51am
Are you familiar with the Conservation Evidence database? https://www.conservationevidence.com/
It is a searchable database of conservation actions (including but not limited to technological solutions), categorised by effectiveness with relevant references. To me it sounds a lot like what you are looking for.
13 April 2020 5:56pm
I wasn't familiar but thank you for sharing this!
SURVEY: “Science and technology application for Wildlife Conservation”
13 April 2020 5:21am
Con X Tech Prize: Funding for early-stage conservation tech ideas
2 April 2020 3:51pm
A community response to help support the Australian bushfire crisis
4 January 2020 11:01pm
13 January 2020 5:02am
Hi Tom,
okay good news, Aaron's been able to track down the designs for you. He's going to drop them in the slack chat - he'll be the person you can ask questions if needed as well.
Steph
18 February 2020 10:17am
Hi all,
I've put together a short list (below) that I've pulled from the Slack channel related to long term and short term projects that were noted or posted.
It's clear that one need is to identify if a quarterly meeting (to see where various projects are vs start anything new) is needed, or that we see if anyone in the community is able fill a voluntary co-ordination role to check up on various projects. One thing at the back of my mind is to look at this from the perspective that if new fires start at scale what could we have in place, or how could we react. That may drive forward a few ideas and help us to focus on what we can do in the short term as there are plenty of project discussions around physical water feeders etc.
Here's what I got from the Slack channel;
Long term
- Work with Conservation Volunteers Australia to establish projects suitable for volunteers, especially things that can be done remotely, but also out in the field.
- Develop a small but skilled and experienced "brains trust" that can provide input for any environmental project / organisation which needs 'tech smarts' but doesn't have them in house.
Short term
- Australian Citizen Science Association - short term priorities are replacing lost nest boxes and getting more she-oaks in the ground. That has to start happening soon to be useful for the 2020 breeding season (the boxes, not the trees obviously).
- Continue to assess recovery program staff needs and the recovery team's priorities
- Zooniverse want to test ALA data sharing, using air quality data can involve remote volunteers without danger
- Setting up field cameras in burnt areas, to identify remaining wildlife or ferals (Zooniverse, ALA/DigiVol)
- Recording wildlife water point or feed locations and monitoring for maintenance, ie refills. (Kobo, other app?
- Setting up shelter tunnels in burnt areas - and recording locations, with possible addition of field cameras (Zooniverse, ALA/Digivol).
****
2 April 2020 3:35pm
Hello everyone. I hope you're well and your friends and families are safe during the Covid-19 crisis. I know that many of us are out of sync during the shut downs around the world so it isn't the easiest of times to think back on the bush fires, but also at the back of mind is the recurrence again and the recovery still underway / getting ahead of time with solutions. There is however a new opportunity that has come to light. The Australian Government has opened an application form for a $100k - £1m grant, with the desc;
The Wildlife and Habitat Bushfire Recovery Program will provide funding to support the immediate survival and long-term recovery and resilience for fire-affected Australian animals, plants, ecological communities and other natural assets and their cultural values for Indigenous Australians.
This may be the opportunity we need to move forward and progress some of the ideas we all noted. We will need Oz group WildLABS orgs and contacts on the ground, but if feel you have the capacity at this time to support a submission and be a part of it, then get in touch.
Bipod suggestion
28 March 2020 9:31am
COVID19 VIRTUAL HACKATHON, MARCH 26-30
26 March 2020 6:02pm
Is this group still live?
2 January 2019 5:09pm
15 January 2019 5:14pm
Hi,
So I have found out that Zoohackathon may actually happen in June 2019 this year, which is earlier than normal. I'm meeting with the US Embassy w/c 28th Jan and hope to find out more then and will follow up after,
Soph
16 January 2019 6:40pm
Fantastic news. Do keep me updated as I excited to commit to this.
20 February 2020 12:18am
Hello!
I'm new here, so I've missed these past events. I would love to hear about any upcoming hackathons :)
Innovate for Wildlife and People Challenge - Deadline February 24
20 December 2019 6:36pm
31 January 2020 1:06pm
Hi Everyone -
This Innovation Challenge is now open for Project Ideas, so if you are interested please go ahead and read more on the Challenge page here, where you will also find the link to Sign Up as a Project Leader or download a PDF that shows the application template and the background to the challenge.
We really welcome any ideas that fit the challenge description, and if you engage, we will have a chance to also further develop your Project idea during the review phase, based on feedback by a global community of subject-matter experts.
https://impactio.global/innovate-for-wildlife-and-people-challenge
Any questions, I am here! Anna
CAPSULE- World’s Largest Hackathon for Conservation
21 January 2020 1:17pm
내려 anigana.co.kr/sandz/ - 샌즈카지노
16 January 2020 12:15pm
Webinar: The Business of Saving the Planet: Technology, Innovation & Intelligence in Conservation, Jan 7
20 December 2019 4:32pm
An Engineer’s Experience at International Congress for Conservation Biology (ICCB)
18 November 2019 10:16am
Download the WILDLABS Community Review 2018-19
30 October 2019 12:00am
22 November 2020 5:24pm
Hi,
I have some Malagasy contacts if those might be of interest to the students. I conduct fieldwork on lemurs in a national park there in collaboration with Centre ValBio research station, but I know of others working in Malagasy non-profits as well who may be good candidates. Feel free to email me ([email protected]) and I'm happy to facilitate any connections I can.
All the best,
Carly