In recent years, drone technologies have been explored for a range of applications in conservation including (but not limited to) mapping, biodiversity inventories, antipoaching patrols, wildlife tracking, and fire monitoring. The rise of customizable, open-source drones like those of ArduPilot and OpenROV hold promise for more effective conservation applications, and combined with other monitoring sensors and devices, they are capable of collecting high-resolution data quickly, noninvasively, and at relatively low cost.
However, challenges remain in putting these tools to use. A recent paper reviewing 256 conservation drone projects highlighted some of these major obstacles, ranging from unintended social and ecological consequences of drone operations to still prohibitive costs, both in terms of hardware and in terms of storing and processing large volumes of data. The longstanding challenge of power/battery life remains as well.
If you're considering trying out drones for yourself, and want to explore the possibilities and understand the major conversations happening around this technology, check out these beginner's resources and conversations from across the WILDLABS platform:
Three Resources for Beginners:
- Conservation Technology User Guidelines Issue 5: Drones, World Wildlife Fund | Drones, best practices, ethics, regulations, case studies
- WILDLABS Virtual Meetup Recording: Drones, Craig Elder, Dr. Claire Burke, and Gabriel Levin | Drones, thermal camera, wildlife crime, ML, biologging
- New Paper: Drones and Bornean Orangutan Distribution, Sol Milne | Drones, data analysis, citizen science, community science, primates
Three Forum Threads for Beginners:
- Curious about radio-tracking with drones? | Wildlife Drones, Biologging (5 replies)
- Drones for GIS Best practice Document | Adrian Hughes, Drones (10 replies)
- WWF Conservation Technology Series: Drones in Conservation | Aurélie Shapiro, Drones (7 replies)
Three Tutorials for Beginners:
- How do I use a drone to capture radio-tracking data? | Debbie Saunders, Tech Tutors
- How do I choose the right drone for my conservation goals? | Shashank Srinivasan, Tech Tutors
- How do I strategically allocate drones for conservation? | Elizabeth Bondi, Tech Tutors
Want to know more about using drones, and learn from experts in the WILDLABS community? Make sure you join the conversation in our Drones group!
*Header photo: Parker Levinson, Point Blue Conservation Science
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December 2020
June 2020
| Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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| Hey all!I am Ayush, a core team member of my school's Robotics Club (Center For Innovation, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras). There... |
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Drones, Sensors, Wildlife Crime, Early Career | 4 weeks 2 days ago | |
| Hi Lindy, ODM has a steep learning curve but is fantastic once you understand it. I have much better results than from commerical services, although we were just stitching fairly... |
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Drones | 1 month 1 week ago | |
| @gracieermi & I are happy to announce the latest update to the Conservation Tech Directory, bringing our total resources in the... |
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Acoustic Monitoring, AI for Conservation, Biologging, Camera Traps, Community Base, Data management and processing tools , Drones, eDNA & Genomics, Remote Sensing & GIS, Software and Mobile Apps | 1 month 1 week ago | |
| Some folks doing work in this space - Wildlife Drones, Conservation Drones, UAV Wild, AfricanDrones, Oceans Unmanned, Geonadir. |
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Drones, AI for Conservation, Citizen Science, eDNA & Genomics, Emerging Tech | 1 month 2 weeks ago | |
| Hi I can help...I think I have a few ideas where this can work. Thanks |
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Drones | 2 months ago | |
| >>>Ideally I'd be able to log angle/acceleration data (IMU), GPS (XYZ) >>>camera-trigger events (hotshoe of camera) to an SD card. The Pixhawk class... |
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Drones | 6 months 3 weeks ago | |
| Drone program manager at Island Conservation - https://www.islandconservation.org/drone-program-coordinator/ Senior Specialist, Flight... |
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Drones | 11 months 3 weeks ago | |
| Hi Egil, The group I'm involved with works with remote communities in/around North and South Luangwa National Parks and there is some expansion happening to community areas... |
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Drones | 1 year 5 months ago | |
| Here is a very interesting conference with different tech approaches about Automated Forest Restoration where we collaborated with our... |
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Drones | 1 year 5 months ago | |
| Hi! Interesting subject indeed. In most cases where UAVs are used in nature "documentaries" it is pretty obvious to a behavioural biologist that the animals... |
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Drones | 1 year 5 months ago | |
| Hi Wildlabbers, This week is the last episode of Tech Tutors Season 2! Elizabeth Bondi tackled the question "How do I... |
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AI for Conservation, Drones | 1 year 5 months ago | |
| Hello Aurelie, Thank you for sharing this info. I just downloaded the brochure and I am sure I will find it very useful. I have senseFly's eBee Classic, with RGB,... |
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New Conservation Tech Directory update
27 June 2022 at 04:45pm
Open Source Photogrammetry Software
15 June 2022 at 09:43pm
18 June 2022 at 08:45pm
You might check out what's listed in the Directory - for example, DroneMapper, though this is paid (not sure if they'd give you any discount). The one I have heard most about is OpenDroneMap though. Or perhaps check out GeoNadir?
28 June 2022 at 10:21am
Hi Lindy, ODM has a steep learning curve but is fantastic once you understand it. I have much better results than from commerical services, although we were just stitching fairly small (<10ha) areas.
Have a look at WebODM Lightning, this is a paid-for, but very cheap, processing service using ODM that is more similar to commercial services (upload your images, press go). You can upload using the web interface or a Windows app.
Cofounder needed
9 June 2022 at 04:23pm
17 June 2022 at 01:14pm
What about developing a drone conservation training course for field conservation staff teaching specific skills for specific research needs.
17 June 2022 at 06:54pm
How exciting @Joyeeta ! I'd love to learn more about the companies and projects you worked on, can you share more info about them?
I once chatted to an entrepreneurial advisor with a couple of my conservation tech ideas, and he said my ideas are good/impactful but don't make for a product worth millions of $$$ of turnover per year that would interest investors. So I am very curious about how you got your conservation tech businesses off the ground!
18 June 2022 at 08:33pm
Some folks doing work in this space - Wildlife Drones, Conservation Drones, UAV Wild, AfricanDrones, Oceans Unmanned, Geonadir.
Smithsonian Magazine: "Underwater Roombas" scan southern California coast for DDT barrels
4 June 2022 at 07:30pm
17 June 2022 at 02:31pm
Hey Lindy,
Were you using Web ODM for OpenDroneMap? Have you tried looking for courses/tutorials? I'm not sure of any other software, I usually use Agisoft for Photogrammetry. I'm taking it the one off license fee version that they have isn't enough for your uses?