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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PhD Candiate studying Antarctic penguins and pack-ice seals
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Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)
Wildlife Biologist and Marine Conservationist
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I am a science assistant doing research in semi-open nature-reserves, and monitoring grazing livestock as a main managing tool, thereby using tracking devices.
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Agroecology Geek
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- @BioVipa
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Natural Resources Engineer. Birdwatcher and citizen science lover, data science enthusiast.
Wanting to learn more ways to use technology for conservation.
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Software developer with a focus on machine learning, my background is in environmental science. In my free time I love going into nature and photographing it. The intersection between wildlife conservation and tech interests me a lot so I'm here to learn more.
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University of Michigan & Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Incoming Assistant Professor and Researcher in Artificial Intelligence for Conservation
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- @lucchini.karen
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PhD Student at the Post Graduate Programme in Animal Biology at Federal University of Pernambuco. Biologist at the National Centre of Research and Conservation of Aquatic Mammals (ICMBio/CMA).
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Full funded, UK and International
11 August 2022
The Marine Robotics and Remote Sensing (MaRRS) Lab at Duke University seeks a highly motivated UAS pilot and geospatial analyst to support the ongoing development of new and existing research and conservation programs,...
10 August 2022
The Marine Robotics and Remote Sensing (MaRRS) Lab at Duke University seeks a highly motivated postdoctoral researcher to support the ongoing development of new and existing research and conservation programs, both...
10 August 2022
This WhaleSeeker article discusses how reliable distribution data depends on accurate labelling from survey images, and how AI can improve this process.
13 July 2022
Ever wanted to become a Drone Pilot? Here is your chance!
10 June 2022
Hundreds of tons of the toxic chemical have likely littered the ocean floor near Santa Catalina Island for decades.
4 June 2022
"A drone emitting orca sounds will be used in attempt to guide the animal, whose health is fast deteriorating"
1 June 2022
Authors: Geison P Mesquita, Margarita Mulero-Pázmány, Serge A Wich, José Domingo Rodríguez-Teijeiro
29 May 2022
Check out this round-up of three of the latest conservation tech studies and news. See more conservation tech news by subscribing to our bi-monthly digest.
24 March 2022
Fauna & Flora International is seeking a qualified candidate for the position of a Technical Specialist, Analytics to support and grow the use of spatial technologies and analyses for conservation planning and...
21 March 2022
In their three-part interview from our new series Technical Difficulties, Colby Loucks and Eric Becker share the failures they've encountered and learned from throughout six years of working on the WWF-US Wildlife Crime...
20 October 2021
November 2019
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April 2019
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Recently updated products
Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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Hi all,I've been quickly developing in-house drone services in the UK for Providence Ecological and have found some useful information for building a workflow with Rich... |
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Remote Sensing & GIS, Drones | 1 year 2 months ago | |
Hi folks, @Lars_Holst_Hansen asked this over on twitter and hasn't had any replies yet, so I thought it might be something that... |
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Drones | 1 year 3 months ago | |
Bluesky have a commercial tree crown dataset available covering most of Great Britain (England, Wales and parts of Scotland). There is a canopy layer with approximate outlines of... |
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AI for Conservation, Drones | 1 year 3 months ago | |
Hi Lindy,WebODM has now a native Windows installer version which costs around 147 $ once - https://opendronemap.org/webodm/download/.Is has almost all the advantages of the high... |
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Drones | 1 year 3 months ago | |
My original background is in ecology and conservation, and am now in the elected leadership of the Gathering for Open Science Hardware which convenes researchers developing open... |
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AI for Conservation, Biologging, Camera Traps, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Data management and processing tools, Drones, Emerging Tech, Sensors | 1 year 4 months ago | |
Hey Sol, The only way for you to collect information from a GPS tag attached to a FAD is if that tag transmits that data to the drone. Unfortunately most receiver packages... |
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Drones, Emerging Tech, Open Source Solutions | 1 year 5 months ago | |
Thanks so much!! |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Biologging, Camera Traps, Community Base, Data management and processing tools, Drones, eDNA & Genomics, Emerging Tech, Open Source Solutions, Remote Sensing & GIS, Software and Mobile Apps | 1 year 7 months ago | |
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 | 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... |
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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 | |
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 year 10 months ago | |
Hi I can help...I think I have a few ideas where this can work. Thanks |
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Drones | 1 year 11 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 | 2 years 4 months ago |